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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  InttKuta  for  Historical  Microraproductlona  /  Inttitut  Canadian  da  microraproductiona  liistoriquaa 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiqua* 


Tha  Instituta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibllographically  unlqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 


0 
D 


n 


D 


Colourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I     I    Covars  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagte 


Covars  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastaurAa  at/ou  pallicuMa 


I     I   Covar  titia  missing/ 


La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 


□   Colourad  maps/ 
Cartas  gAographiquas  wi  coulaur 


Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 


I     I   Colourad  platas  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planchas  at/ou  illustrations  9n  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  material/ 
RaliA  avac  d'autras  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liura  serrie  paut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainas  pages  blanches  aJoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  it4  f  ilmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commenteires  supplAmentairas; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  it*  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
da  cat  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normala  de  filmaga 
aont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


The 
toti 


n 

n 
0 

D 

0 
o 

D 
D 


D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pagea  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  andommagias 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurias  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dAcoiories,  tachat^es  ou  piquias 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachias 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualiti  inigala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matiriai  supplimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelura, 
etc.,  ont  it*  filmies  A  nouveau  de  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


The 
post 
ofti 
film 


Orifl 

beg! 

the 

sion 

othi 

first 

sion 

or  11 


The 
shal 
TINI 
whi 

Mai 
diffi 
enti 
beg 
righ 
reqi 
met 


This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  riduction  indiqui  ci-dessous 

10X                           14X                           18X                           22X 

28X 

30X 

>/ 

12X 

16X 

2DX 

aix 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmad  hara  has  baan  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganaroslty  of: 

L'axamplaira  film6  fut  raprodult  grica  d  la 
g«n«rosM  da: 

1 
tails 

National  Library  of  Canada 

Blbllothiqua  nationala  du  Canada 

>  du 
odifiar 

Tha  Imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagiblllty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  Itaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Las  imagos  suivantas  ont  At6  raprodultas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  I'axampiaira  film*,  at  an 
conformit6  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  copias  In  printad  papor  covars  ara  filmad 
baglnning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  Impras- 
sion,  or  tha  bacit  covar  wh«n  approprlata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baglnning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  lllustratad  imprasslon. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  ▼  (maaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appiias. 

Maps,  platos,  charts,  ate  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thoaa  too  larga  to  ba 
antlraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baglnning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framas  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


1 

2 

3 

Las  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvarture  an 
papiar  ast  imprimte  sont  filmte  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'Imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmfo  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'Imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  taila 
amprainta. 

Un  das  symbolas  sulvants  apparaltra  sur  la 
darnldra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha,  salon  la 
cas:  lo  symbola  —^  signifia  "A  SUIVRE",  ie 
symbola  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  cartas,  planchas,  tablaaux,  ate.  pauvant  Atra 
filmto  A  das  taux  da  reduction  diff Grants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
raprodult  an  un  saul  cliche,  11  ast  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angla  supArlaur  gaucha,  da  gaucha  d  droita, 
at  da  haut  an  bas,  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nAcassaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mAthoda. 


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S^je  ^itni  Col0ni|»ti0n  0f  |tiio-€ngIanb. 


AN  ADDHESS,' 


MUTun>  IT  rra 


ERECTION    OP   A   MONUMENTAL    STONE 


ix  Tin 


▲uguat  2eth,  1862, 
COMMEMORATIVE  OF  THE  PLANTING  OP  THE  POPHAM  COLONY 

021  TBI 

PENINSULA   OF    SABINO, 

August  19th,  0. 8.,  1607, 

ESTABLISHING   THE    TITLE  OF   ENGLAND 

TO  1 

t 

THE    CONTINENT. 


BY  JOHN  A.  FOOB. 


NEW-YORK:  ^ 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH,  PUBLISHER  AND   BOOKSELLER, 
688  BROAOWAT,  COR.  OF  AMItT  SCRKET. 

ISOB. 


Entered,  Moordlng  to  Act  of  Congrew,  In  the  yew  1868,  by 

JOHN   A..   POOR, 

In  tlie  Clerk'i  Office  of  the  Dhtrict  Court  of  the  United  States  fop  the  District  of  Malna 


n^TEODUCTOEY  NOTE. 


•♦» 


^      • 


The  Portland  Daily  Advertiser  of  August  30th,  1802,  published 
the  foHowing : 

THE   POPHAM  CELEBRATION. 

Friday,  the  29th,  was  a  most  delightful  day  for  celebrating  the 
Two  hundred  and  fifty-fiflh  Anniversary  of  the  planting  of  Pop- 
ham  Colony  on  the  Kennebec.  Some  five  or  six  thousand  people, 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  assembled  at  Fort  Popham 
on  this  occasion.  In  every  respect  the  celebration  was  a  great 
success. 

Between  eleven  and  twelve  o^clock  the  ceremonies  of  commem- 
oration, of  erecting  the  Memorial  Stone,  commenced,  Hon.  Charles 
J.  Oilman,  of  Brunswick,  the  Marshal  of  the  day,  reading  the  fol- 
lowing brief  statement : 

"Two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  ago  this  day,  under  the  auspi- 
ces of  a  Royal  charter  granted  by  King  James,  there  assembled 
on  the  Peninsula  of  Sabino,  and  near  to  this  spot,  a  party  of  Eng- 
lishmen, and  formed  the  first  civil  Protestant  government  of  the 
New  World,  and  by  formal  occupation  and  possession,  established 
the  title  of  England  to  the  continent.  In  the  year  1607,  in  the 
month  of  August,  on  the  10th  day  of  the  month,  the  Commission 
of  George  Popham  for  the  Presidency  of  the  new  Government  was 
read.  Capt.  Raleigh  Gilbert,  James  Davies,  Richard  Seymour, 
the  preacher,  Capt.  Richard  Davies,  and  Capt.  Harlow,  were  all 
sworn  assistants. 

"In  commemoration  of  this  event,  the  Historical  Society  of  this 
State,  corresponding  with  citizens  in  difibrent  parts  of  the  State, 
have  instituted  this  celebration,  and  it  is  proposed  from  time  to 
time,  in  the  valley  of  the  Sagadahoc,  on  the  Peninsula  of  Sabino, 
to  recall  and  to  illustrate  events  of  the  past,  and  by  this  and  fu- 
ture celebrations  to  assign  to  Maine  her  true  historic  position.  On 
this  spot,  under  the  direction  of  the  distinguished  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Engineers,  and  his  accomplished  assistants,  a  ibrt  is  in 
process  of  construction.    In  compUance  with  a  petition  of  John 


IV 


A.  Poor  and  Kouel  Williams,  dated  Woshinffton,  November  1 8tli, 
1801,  Simon  Cameron,  then  Secretary  of  War,  bv  the  advice  of 
Gen.  Totten,  determined  to  auooiate  this  fort  with  the  name  of 
Popham  and  the  history  of  his  colony. 

"  In  order  that  the  record  of  events  which  have  transpired  may 
be  made  still  more  vivid  and  impressive,  it  has  been  thought  fit 
and  proper  to  insert  in  a  wall  of  the  fort  a  memorial  stone.  The 
President  of  the  Historical  Society,  the  President  of  Bowdoin 
College,  the  representative  of  the  government  of  the  State,  the 
representative  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
^rand  Masonic  Lodge  of  Maine,  in  the  disposition  and  adjustment 
<>  his  stone  will  participate.  Before  the  commencement  of  these 
inwcresting  exercises,  let  us  imitate  the  example  of  those  who  stood 
here  two  hundred  and  fifly-five  years  ago  this  day.  As  the  Rev. 
Richard  Seymour,  Chaplain  of  the  Colony,  was  invited  to  perform 
nets  of  religious  worship,  then^  so  now  do  I  invite  Right  Rev. 
Jishop  Burgess,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Maine,  to  perform  re- 
ligious worship,  according  to  the  ceremonial  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  that  day." 

Then  followed  the  impressive  services  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  Burgess  officiating,  such  religious  services  as 
the  Popham  colonists  used,  upon  their  first  landing.  A  brief  his- 
torical statement  was  next  read  by  William  Willis,  President  of 
the  Maine  Historical  Society.  President  Woods,  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Maine  Historic 
cal  Society,  next  solicited  the  consent  of  the  State  and  of  the 
United  States  to  permit  the  erection  of  the  Memorial  Stone.  Hon. 
Abner  Coburn  responded  for  the  State,  Capt.  T.  L.  Casey,  of  the 
U.  S.  Engineers,  for  the  United  States.  The  erection  of  the  Me- 
morial Stone  was  then  completed  with  Masonic  ceremonies  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  Maine,  J.  H.  Drummond,  Grand  Master. 

Following  these  ceremonies,  which  had  been  interspersed  with 
appropriate  music  by  Poppenbnrg's  Band,  of  the  17th  Regular 
Infantry,  came  the  Oration  by  John  A.  Poor. 


The  Address  of  Mr.  Poor,  as  now  published,  contains  the  para- 
graphs which  were  omitted  for  want  of  time,  at  the  Celebration. 


ADDRESS. 


*♦« 


We  commemorate  to-day  the  great  event  of  American 
history.  "We  are  assembled  on  the  spot  that  witnessed 
the  first  formal  act  of  possession  of  New-England,  by  a 
British  colony,  under  the  authority  of  a  Royal  Charter. 
"We  have  come  here,  on  the  two  hundred  and  flfty.fiffch 
anniversary  of  that  event,  to  rejoice  in  the  manifold 
blessings  that  have  flowed  to  us  from  that  act,  —  to 
place  on  record  a  testimonial  of  our  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  that  day's  work,  —  and  to  transmit  to  future 
generations,  an  expression  of  our  regard  for  the  illustri- 
ous men  who  laid  the  foundation  of  England's  title  to 
the  Continent,  and  gave  a  new  direction  to  the  history 
of  the  world. 

•  "We  meet  under  circumstances  of  deep  and  peculiar 
interest.  The  waters  of  the  same  broad  Sagadahoc,* 
move  onward  in  their  majestic  course  to  the  ocean ;  the 
green  summit  of  the  beautifiil  Seguin  still  lifts  itself  in 
the  distance  —  standing  sentinel  and  breakwater  to 
beat  back  the  swelling  surges  of  the  sea ;  the  flashing 
foam  of  the  Atlantic  still  washes  the  rocky  shores  of  the 
Peninsula  of  Sabino,  and  the  secure  anchorage  of  this 
open  bay  receives  the  tempeijt-tost  bark,  as  on  the 
day  that  the  "  Gift  of  God,"  the  gallant  flyboat  of 

*  Sagadahoc,  or  Saehedahoek,  is  Indian,  and  signifies,  "  Tlio  going  out  of  ilie 
waters,"  or  the  mouth  of  the  river.    Eaton's  Annala  of  Wnrren,  p.  1 5. 


6 


George  Popham,  helped  into  port  Kaleigh  Gilbert's 
good  ship  "  Mary  and  John,"  freighted  with  the  hopes 
of  a  new  empire.  Behind  us  rises  the  green  summit  of 
yonder  mount,  around  whose  sides  soon  clustered  the 
habitations  of  the  intrepid  Popharu  and  his  devoted 
companions;  and  the  same  rocky  rampart  that  then 
encircled  this  proud  bay,  stands  unmoved  amid  the 
changes  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years.  All  else 
is  cTumged.  The  white  sails  of  many  a  gallant  ship 
now  cover  this  broad  expanse  of  water;  a  towering 
light-house  rises  high  above  the  summit  of  Seguin, 
throwing  the  rays  of  its  Fresnel  lens  far  out  into  the 
darkness,  and  along  these  rocky  shores ;  habitations  of 
men  dot  every  point  of  the  surrounding  landscape, 
while  the  stout  steamer,  unlike  the  ship  of  olden  time, 
gladly  encounters  the  rude  waves  of  the  ocean. 

"  Against  the  wind,  and  against  the  tide, 
Still  steady,  with  an  upright  keel."  "* 

But  the  heart  of  man  has  changed  less  than  all,  in  these 
two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years.  It  still  bows  submis- 
sive to  Almighty  God,  and  lifts  its  voice  in  prayer  and 
praise,  as  when  in  the  solemn  service  of  his  ritual 
their  pious  preacher  uttered  these  memorable  words : 

"  At  what  time  soever  a  sinner  doth  repent  him  of 
his  sins  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  I  will  blot  all  his 
wickedness  out  of  my  remembrance,  saith  the  Lord." 

"  I  will  go  to  my  Father,  and  say  to  him,  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven  and  against  thee :  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son."  f 

All  this  was  permanent  and  enduring.  The  same 
duty  and  the  same  dependence  upon  God,  as  then,  are 
upon  us  all.    We  seem  to  see  before  us  the  faithful 

,     *  For  description  of  the  localities  alluded  to,  see  Note  A,  in  the  Appendix, 
f  King  James's  Liturgy  of  1604. 


X 


/■ 


Eichard  Seymour,*  clad  in  the  habiliments  of  the 
priesthood,  as  we  hear  the  same  accents  of  prayer  and 
praise  that  he  uttered, — when,  before  himl^nelt  the  faith- 
ful Popham  and  his  hardy  comrades,  whose  deep  re- 
sponses were  borne  upward  to  the  mercy-seat.  "We  lis- 
ten to-day  to  the  same  strains  of  music,  and  to  the 
same  lessons,  that  first  burst  forth  &om  human  lips,  on 
the  shores  of  this  great  continent !  That  same  sense  of 
sinfulness  that  then  found  utterance  in  the  language  of 
the  liturgy,  finds  expression  in  our  hearts  to-day ;  and 
may  it  please  the  Father  of  mercies  so  to  mould  all 
hearts,  that  these  words  of  penitential  confession  shall 
find  willing  utterance  from  all  lips,  and  these  words  of 
prayer  and  praise,  raised  in  devout  aspiration  from  all 
hearts,  be  continued  from  generation  to  generation 
through  all  time,  till  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one 
Shepherd,  and  this  mortal  reach  immortality  at  the 
final  consummation  of  all  things. 

The  greatness  of  an  event  is  to  be  measured  by  the 
influence  it  exerts  over  the  destinies  of  mankind.  Acts 
of  sublime  moral  grandeur,  essential  to  the  education 
of  the  race,  may  surpass  in  real  magnitude  the  most 
brilliant  achievements  of  material  success,  and  the 
silent  eloquence  of  truth,  do  more  to  conquer  the  fierce 
spirit  of  war,  than  the  most  imposing  triiunphs  of  war- 
like  ambition.  The  ignominious  execution  of  the 
Teacher  of  our  Religion,  in  a  remote  and  obscure  pro- 
vince of  the  Boman  Empire,  was  an  event  of  so  little 
interest  at  the  time,  as  to  be  overlooked  by  the  great 
writers  of  Roman  history.  The  rise  of  the  Christian 
sect  in  Judea,  was  noticed  by  the  younger  Pliny  in  his 
letter  to  the  Emperor  Trajan  within  the  next  hun- 

*  Who  was  Richard  Seymour?    See  aketoli  of  him  by  Bishop  Burgess,  Appen- 
dix B. 


8 


dred  years;*  but  no  liuman  vision  could  then  have, 
foreseen,  that  their  despised  doctr'nes,  would,  within 
the  next  few  hundred  years,  have  come  enthroned  in 
the  home  of  the  Caesars,  and  givo  law  to  the  civilized 
world. 

When  Hannibal  led  his  disciplined  troops  from  the 
shores  of  Africa,  through  the  perilous  passes  of  the 
Pyrenees  and  across  the  Alps,  into  Italy,  and  slew 
more  in  number  of  the  Roman  youth,  th^n  the  entire 
force  of  his  army,  we  instinctively  honor  this  sublime 
exhibition  of  martial  genius  and  energy.  When  at 
last  he  failed  to  conquer  Rome,  only  from  the  lack  of 
succor  from  his  own  countrymen,  whose  jealousy  of  his 
success  destroyed  their  country,  we  respect  that  indig- 
nant sense  of  justice  that  bequeathed  his  bones  to  a 
foreign  resting-place,  lest  his  unworthy  countrymen 
should  in  after-times  be  honored,  by  the  homage  done 
to  his  remains.  We  weep  at  every  fresh  recital  of  the 
splendor  of  his  achievements,  and  the  magnitude  of  his 
misfortunes,  however  much  we  may  value  the  superior 
civilization  of  the  Roman  people  over  that  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, as  we  reflect  that  the  history  of  future  times 
hung  suspended,  on  the  issue  of  that  campaign.  We 
are  willing  to  rejoice,  that  at  last  his  ungrateful  nation 
was  blotted  from  the  earth,  and  Carthage  lives  only  as 
a  dishonor  to  history,  while  his  name  stands  foremost, 
among  warriors  and  heroes. 

When  the  brave  and  aiecomplished  Champlain  re- 
turned to  France  after  an  absence  of  three  and  a  half 
years  in  Acadia,f  having  explored  all  these  shores,  and 
given  them  the  names  they  now  bear,  and  placed  the 


•  Lib.  X.  Epistle  99,  a.d.  101. 

f  Champlain,  with  De  Monts  and  his  associatea,  sailed  from  St.  Malo  March  17, 1604, 
in  two  ships.  They  returned  to  St.  Malo  September  28,  1607.  See  Poor's. Vindica* 
tiou  of  Gorges,  and  the  authorities  there  cited,  p.  20,  et  seq. 


9 


aymbok  of  the  authority  of  his  sovereign,  from  Cape 
Breton  to  Cape  Cod,  confidently  anticipating  the  future 
greatness  of  his  race  and  nation  in  this  their  secure 
home  in  the  finest  portion  of  the  new  world,  he  found 
that  the  charter  granted  to  De  Monts  under  which  he 
held  and  occupied  the  country,  had  been  revoked,* 
and  that  the  most  hopeful  plan  of  empire  ever  revealed 
to  human  eyes,  had  been  marred  if  not  destroyed. - 
With  generous  valor  he  sought  a  new  home  amid  the 
snows  of  the  St.  Lawi'ence,  and  in  1608  planted  the 
flag  and  the  power  of  France,  upon  the  shores  of  that 
mighty  river,  where  his  bones  now  lie,  in  the  midst  of 
the  race  he  there  planted.  But  the  folly  of  the  great 
King  Henry  of  Navarre,  could  not  be  overcome  by 
any  heroism  on  his  part,  for  the  stronger  foothold  of  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges  had  meanwhile  been  planted  on  the 
shores  of  this  open  sea,  from  Sagadahoc  to  Plymouth,  and 
the  flag  of  France  was  compelled  to  withdraw  across 
the  Sagadahoc,  never  more  to  return  thither  after 
1607,  and  finally  lay  in  the  dust  before  that  cross  of 
St.  George,  which  first  floated  from  the  rocky  ram- 
parts of  Quebec  on  the  18th  of  September,  1759,t 
and  the  power  of  France  was  swept  from  the  continent 
forever.  But  all  hearts  instinctively  honor  the  im. 
mortal  Champlain.  The  sympathy  of  aU  generous 
minds  ever  flows  forth,  at  the  utterance  of  his  name. 
His  monument  still  exists,  in  sight  of  an  admiring 
posterity,  more  enduring  than  this  stone  we  have  this 
day  raised  in  honor  of  another,  and  it  shall  forever 
remain  in  perpetual  beauty,  while  the  waters  frctn  the 
lofty  summits  of  the  Adirondac,  mingling  with  those 

*  Ghamplain's  Voyages,  p.  44,  45,  90,  (ed.  1032.)  L'Eacarbot,  p-.  619,  2d 
edition,  1612. 

f  Tlie  battle  was  fought  September  IS,  1759 ;  the  surrender  of  Quebec  was 
agreed  on  in  the  evening  of  the  I'fth,  and  the  English  flag  raised,  on  the  morning, 
of  the  18th. 


10 


of  tlie  Green  Mountains,  shall  fill  the  deep  recesses 
of  the  Lake,  that  bears  the  honored  name,  Chxmvp- 
lain  I* 

Our  duty  to-day  calls  us  to  honor  another,  and  a 
greater  than  Champlain ;  not  greater  in  purpose,  but 
in  the  results  he  achieved  for  humanity  and  his  race, 
and  more  entitled  to  our  sympathy  from  the  blessings 
we  owe  to  his  labors,  —  the  man  that  gave  North- 
America  to  his  nation,  and  died  without  even  the  poor 
reward  that  followed  his  great  rival 

That  colossal  empire  which  Champlain  planted  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  watched  over  till  the  close  of 
his  life,+  which  eventually  held  four  fifths  of  the  con- 
tinent, was  unable  to  regain  its  possession  on  these  At- 
lantic shores,  and  from  this  cause  alone,  it  finally  fell 
beneath  the  power  and  sagacity  of  England's  greatest 
war  minister,  Pitt,  who  gave  to  the  heroic  Wolfe,  in 
his  youthful  prime,  the  noblest  opportunity  for  fame 
that  has  yet  fallen  to  a  leader  of  armies.  But  the  hero 
who  gave  the  continent  to  England,  was  neither  Pitt 
nor  Wolfe,  but  another  and  greater  than  either,  the 
illustrious  and  sagacious  Knight,  whose  manly  daring 
and  persevering  energy,  upheld  the  drooping  cause  of 
colonization  in  its  darkest  hours,  against  individual 
jealousy  and  Parliamentary  injustice;  and  saw,  like 
Israel's  great  law-giver,  from  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
the  goodly  land  that  his  countrymen  should  afterwards 
possess,  though  he  was  not  allowed  to  enter  it.  J  All 
honor,  this  day,  to  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.-  His  praise 
is  proclaimed  by  Puritan  voices,  after  more  than  two 
hundred  years  of   unjust  reproach.    His  monument 

*See  Hn.  Sigourney's  charmtog  Scinet  to  Champldn,  in  Note  G  of  the  Ap- 
pendix. 

JCIiampIain  died  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Governor-Cten* 
of  Canada,  at  Quebec,  Dec.  25tb,  1(}86. 
X  See  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges,  p.  80,  and  note. 


r 


11 


stands  proudly  erect  among  the  nations,  in  that  consti- 
tutional government  of  these  United  States  which  sheds 
blessingsi  on  the  world.*  His  name,  once  perpetuated 
in  our .  annals,  was  stricken  from  the  records  of  the 
State,  and  no  city,  or  town,  or  lake,  or  river,  allowed 
to  bear  it  to  future  times.  But  a  returning  sense  of 
justice  marks  the  American  character,  and  two  hundred 
years  after  his  death  it  is  heard  once  more  in  honorable 
renown.f  Busy  hands,  guided  by  consummate  skill, 
are  now  shaping  into  beauty  and  order,  a  work  of  en- 
during strength  and  national  defense,  that  does  honor 
to  his  name,  and  rising  in  sight  of  our  chief  commer- 
cial city,  more  beautiful  in  situation  than  any  that 
graces  the  ^gean  coast,  or  smiles  from  the  Adriatic 
shore — ^the  metropolis,  too,  of  his  ancient  "  Province  of 
Mayne" — ^proclaims,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Father  of 
Englieh  colonization  in  America.X    And  in  after-times, 

*  Gorges  foresaw  and  predicted  the  independence  of  the  colonies  of  North- 
America,  of  the  British  crown.  Briefe  Narration,  p.  61,  vol.  ii.  Maine  Hist.  Coll., 
also  Poor's  Vindication,  p.  88. 

f  Gorges  died  in  1647.  On  the  6th  of  September,  1846,  the  Hon.  George 
Folsom,  of  New-Tork,  in  an  address  before  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  brought 
his  claims  to  the  public  notice.     See  vol.  ii.  Mtune  Hist  Collections,  p.  1. 

X  Fort  Gorges. — The  new  Fort  in  Portland  Harbor,  erected  by  the  United  States 
Government,  on  Hog  Island  Ledge,  has  been  named  by  the  Secretary  of  War, 
Fort  Gorges,  in  honor  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  '*  the  original  proprietor  of  the 
Province  of  Mayne  and  the  Father  of  English  Colonization  in  America." 

In  November  last  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  as  follows, 
namely : 

To  THE  Hon.  John  B.  Flotd,  Secretary  or  War  : 

The  undersigned,  citizens  of  Mune,  respectfully  ask,  that  the  new  fort  now  being 
erected  in  Portland  Harbor  by  the  United  States  Government,  may  be  named  Fort 
Gorges,  in  honor  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  "  the  original  proprietor  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  Mayne,  and  the  Father  of  English  Colonization  in  America." 

And  as  in  duty  bound  will  ever  pray. 


Wm.  Willis, 
John  Mussey, 
Samuel  Jordan, 
N.  Deering, 
Wm.  P.  Preble, 


Ether  Shepley, 
George  Evans, 
Geo.  F.  Emery, 
H.  I.  Robinson, 
P.  Barnes, 


Jed'h  Jewett, 
Samuel  Fessenden, 
Joshua  Dunn, 
E.  H.  Elwell, 
Moses  Macdonald, 
Jabez  0.  Woodman, 
Thomas  H.  Talbot, 
Charles  A.  Lord, 
and  others. 
Similar  petitions  were  presented  from  Augusta,  and  the  same  were  transmitted 

through  Capt  Kurtz,  of  the  Engineer  Corps,  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the 

Fort 


Manasseh  H.  Smith,  John  Neal, 
Geo.  F.  Shepley,        D.  W.  Fessenden, 
F.  A.  Quiuby,  Wm.  Senter, 


John  A.  Poor, 
Ashur  Ware, 
Charles  Q.  Clapp, 
Samuel  P.  Shaw, 
Henry  Willis, 
Oliver  Gerrish, 
A.  W.  H.  Clapp, 
John  M.  Adams, 


19 


when  his  race  shall  become  not  only  masters  of  the 
continent,  but  of  the  earth,  and  his  mother  tongue  the 
universal  language.  History  shall  perpetuate  the  deeds 
of  his  genius,  and  Song  shall  make  his  name  immortal.* 

The  question  that  the  European  nations  were  called 
upon  to  solve,  at  the  conmiencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  was,  who  should  hereafter  occupy  and  possess, 
the  broad  belt  of  the  temperate  zone  of  the  New  "World, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  seas.  All  previous 
explorations  were  preliminary  efforts  towards  this  one 
great  object,  but  the  question  remained  open  and  un- 
decided. The  voyages  of  the  Northmen  to  these  shores, 
interesting  to  the  curious,  are  of  no  historic  value, 
because  not  connected  with  the  colonization  of  the 
country — unless  it  shall  hereafter  appear  that  Colum- 
bus obtained  from  them  information,  as  to  the  extent  of 
the  Western  Ocean.  At  the  time  of  discovery  by 
Columbus,  the  only  races  inhabiting  the  New  World, 
north  of  Mexico,  were  tribes  of  wandering  savages,  in- 
capable of  accepting  or  acquiring  habits  of  civilized 
life.  An  extinct  race,  had  left  their  mounds  in  the 
West,  and  their  deposits  of  oyster-beds  along  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  passed  from  traditionary  story. 

The  adventurous  Magellan  in  1520  proved,  by  the 
first  voyage  round  the  world,  the  extent  of  the  new 
continent,  and  in  1579,  Sir  Francis  Drake,  the  first  Eng- 
lishman that  circumnavigated  the  globe,  in  that  daring 

The  Hon.  John  Appleton,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  interested  himself  in  the 
matter,  and  has  forwarded  us  for  publication  the  following  note : 

Washington,  April  2d,  1860. 
Vert  Dear  Sir  :    I  am  much  obliged  for  your  note  of  this  date. 
You  may  say  to  your  correspondent  in  Mtune,  that  the  Secretary  of  War  has 
ordered  the  fortification  he  refers  to  to  be  named  "  Fort  Gorges." 

Yours,  very  truly,  *  W.  R.  Drinkard. 

Hon.  John  Appleton,  Asst.  Sec'y  of  State. 

— Portland  Advertiser  of  April  10th,  1860. 

*  See  in  Note  0,  in  Appendix,  Mrs.  Sigourney's  admirable  Poem  on  Gorges. 


18 


voyage  which  excited  the  admiration  of  his  country- 
men, gave  the  name  of  New-England  to  the  Pacific 
shores  of  the  continent,  which  name  Captain  John 
Smith  afterwards,  to  strengthen  the  title  to  the  country, 
affixed  to  the  Atlantic  slope.*  But  till  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  North- America,  north  of  Flori- 
da, remained  unpeopled  by  Europeans.  The  Spaniards, 
the  Portuguese,  the  French,  the  Dutch,  and  the  English, 
had  all  made  voyages  of  discovery,  and  laid  claims  to 
the  country.  As  early  as  1542,  it  was  parceled  off  to 
the  three  powers  first  named ;  Florida,  belonging  to 
Spain,  extending  as  far  north  as  the  thirty-third 
parallel  of  latitude;  Verrazzan,  or  New-France,  from 
the  thirty-third  to  the  fiftieth  parallel;  and  Terra 
Corterealis,  northward  to  the  Polar  Ocean,  thus 
named  in  honor  of  Gaspar  Cortereal,  a  Portu- 
guese, who  explored  the  coast  in  the  year  1500. 
The  Spaniards  were  in  pursuit  of  mines  of  gold  and 
silver,  the  Portuguese  inquest  of  slaves,  and  the  French 
with  hopes  of  profit  in  the  fur  trade,  and  crude  but 
indefinite  ideas  of  colonization. 

Spain  and  Portugal  originally  claimed  the  New 
World  by  grant  from  the  Pope.f  England,  practically 
abandoning  all  claim  from  tht  discoveries  of  Cabot  ou 
the  Atlantic,  and  Drake  on  the  Pacific  coasts,  laid  down, 
in  1580,  the  broad .  doctrine,  that  prescription  without 
occupation  was  of  no  avail ;  that  possession  of  the 
country  was  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  title.  Pre- 
sc7'iptio  sine  possessionem  Im/ud  valeat-X 

Before  this  time,  the  attention  of  England  had  been 
turned  to  the  northern  parts  of  America,  with  a  view 
to  colonization.    As  early  as  March  22, 1574,  the  Queen 


*  John  Smith's  Description  of  New  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  2,  Force's  Tracts. 
Historical  Coll.  Sd  series,  vol.  vi.  p.  104. 
+  Bull  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  1493, 
X  Camden's  Eliz.  Annales,  1580.    Sec  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges,  p.  9. 


Mass. 


u 

had  been  petitioned  to  allow  of  the  discovery  of  lands 
in  America  ^^fataUi/  't^erved  to  England^  and  far  tlie 
lionor  of  Her  Majesty^*  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's 
charter  "for  planting  our  people  in  America,''  was 
granted  by  Elizabeth,  June  11,  1578,  and  in  1580 
John  Walker  and  his  companions  had  discovered  a 
silver  mine  in  Nomnbega.  The  explorations  of 
Andrew  Thevett,  of  John  Barros,  and  John  Walker, 
alluded  to  in  the  papers  recently  discovered  in  the 
British  State  Paper  Office,  under  date  of  1580,  we  find 
nowhere  else  recorded.  The  possession  of  New- 
foundland by  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  was  abandoned 
on  his  loss  at  sea,  and  it  was  not  till  1 584,  that  the  first 
charter  to  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  was  issued,  by  Elizabeth. 
Raleigh  named  the  country  Virginia,  in  honor  of  his 
Queen.  Of  the  two  colonies  sent  out  by  him,  one  re- 
turned, the  other  perished  in  the  country,  leaving  no 
trace  of  its  history  and  no  record  of  its  melancholy 
fate.f  Thus,  at  the  period  of  Elizabeth's  death,  in 
1603,  England  had  not  a  colonial  possession  on  the 
globe. 

Sir  Kichard  Whitbourne  had  made  voyages  to  New- 
foundland in  his  own  ship  in  1588,:|;  and  in  1600  there 
was  a  proposition  to  the  Queen  for  planting  a  colony  in 
tlie  Norihrwest  of  America^^  in  which  can  be  unmistak- 
ably traced  the  agency  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  who 
it  now  appears  was  also  concerned  in  the  voyage  of 
Gosnold  in  1602,  of  Pring  in  1603,  and  of  George  Wey- 
mouth in  1605,  the  earliest  ones  of  which  we  have  any 
authentic  record.)  That  eloquent  passage  in  Gorges' 
Briefe  Narraiwn,  in  which  he  gives  "the  reasons  and 


*  Calendar  of  Colonial  State  Papers,  edited  by  Sainsbury,  vol.  i.  page  1. 

f  Bancroft's  History,  vol.  i.  pp.  102,  lOT. 

X  Calendar  of  Col.  State  Papers,  vol.  i  p.  82. 

§  See  this  paper  in  full  in  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges.    Appendix. 

I  See  Gwges'  letter  to  Challoos.    Poor's  Vindication,  p.  84. 


15 


the  means  of  renewing  the  undertaking  of  Plantations 
in  America,"  deserves  our  highest  praise ;  and  it  excites 
feelings  of  the  warmest  gratitude  toward  hira,  for  it  is 
a  modest  and  touching  statement,  of  his  own  heroic 
efforts,  in  the  cause  of  American  colonization* 

But  the  Hollanders  and  the  French  were  equally 
aroused  to  the  importance,  and  inflamed  with  the  pur- 
pose, of  seizing  upon  these  shores.  The  vast  wealth  of 
the  Dutch,  their  great  cemmercial  success  prior  to  this 
time  in  both  the  East  and  West-Indies,  gave  them  the 
advantage.  Ghamplain,  with  greater  knowledge  of 
North- America  than  any  of  his  rivals,  had  accompanied 
Pont  Grav^  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  by  direction  of  the 
King,  in  1603,  when,  on  his  return  to  France,  he  found 
Acadia  granted  to  De  Monts,  a  Protestant,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  King's  household,  under  date  of  November 
eighth,  1603,  extending  across  the  continent,  between 
the  fortieth  and  forty-sixth  degrees  of  north  latitude.f 

In  the  spring  of  1604,  De  Monts,  accompanied  by 
Ghamplain,  Pont  Grav^,  Poutrincourt,  and  the  learned 
and  accomplished  historian  L'Escarbot,  sailed  from 
Dieppe  for  the  occupation  of  the  New  Woeld.  They 
planted  their  colony  at  St.  Croix,  within  the  limits  of 
our  own  State,  in  1604,  J  and  in  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  1605,  explored  the  coast  under  the  lead  of 
Ghamplain,  from  Gampseau  to  Gape  Malabar,  twelve 
miles  south  of  Gape  God,  "  searching  to  the  bottom  of 
the  bays,"  the  same  year  that  Weymouth  explored  this 
most  excellent  and  beneficial  river  of  Sagadahoc.  To 
make  sure  of  the  country,  Ghamplain,  Ghampdore  and 
L'Escarbot  remained  three  and  a  half  years,  fishing, 
trading  with  the  natives,  and  occupying  at  Boston,  Pis- 

*Gk)rgC8'  Briefe  Narration,  p.  16. 

JL'Escarbot,  p.  432,  2d  edition.     1612. 
See  Pooi^a  Vindication  of  Goi^gea,  p.  23,  note. 


Ifl 


cndouet,  (Piscataqua,)  Marchin,  (Portland,)  Koskebee, 
(Casco  Bay,)  Kinnibequi,  (Kennebec,)  Pentagoet,  (Pe- 
'  nobscot,)  and  all  east,  to  Campseau  and  Cape  Bre- 
ton. Returning  to  France  in  1607,  they  found  the 
charter  of  De  Monts  revoked,*  on  account  of  the  jeal- 
ousy of  his^  rivals,  and  a  small  indemity  from  the  King 
their  only  reward,  for  these  four  years  of  sacrifice  and 
unremitting  toil.  This  shortsightedness  of  the  great 
Henry  of  Navarre,  cost  France  the  dominion  of  the  New 
World.  For  on  the  return  of  Weymouth  to  Plymouth, 
in  1605,  with  five  savages  from  Pemaquid,  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  Gorges  gathered  from  them  full  particulars  of 
this  whole  region,  its  harbors,  rivers,  natural  character- 
istics and  features,  its  people  and  mode  of  government.f 
Associating  with  himself  the  Earl  of  Southampton,J 
Gorges,  relying  upon  these  circumstances  as  a  means  of 
inflaming  the  imagination  of  his  countrymen,  petitioned 
the  King  for  a  charter,§  which  he  obtained,  under  date 
of  April  tenth,  1606,|  granting  to  George  Popham,  and 
seven  others,  the  continent  of  North- America,  from  the 
thirty-foui-th  to  the  forty-fifth  de^-rees  of  north  latitude, 
extending  one  hundred  miles  into  the  mainland,  and 
including  all  islands  of  the  sea  within  one  hundred 
miles  of  the  shore.  This  charter  is  the  basis  on  which 
rests  the  title  of  our  race  to  the  New  World.  It  pro- 
vided for  a  local  government  at  home,  intrusted  to  a 

TEaoarbot,  p.  .460,  2d  edition.     1612.    Ghamploin,  pp.  44,  46,  99. 

f  Gorges'  Briefe  Narration.    Maine  Hist.  Coll.  vol.  ii.  p.  19. 

X  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earl  of  Southampton,  the  friend  and  patron  of  Shak- 
speare,  was  the  third  earl  of  that  name,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  Wriotheslej,  Lord 
High  Chancellor  of  England,  under  Edward  VI.  Created  a  peer  February  six- 
teenth, 1647,  he  died  in  1660.  His  son  Henry,  was  Lord  Treasurer,  and  grand- 
father of  Lady  Baohel  Russell.  His  patent  of  nobility  was  declared  forfeited,  under 
Elizabeth,  but  restored  by  James  in  1603.  The  third  earl.  Treasurer  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Company,  and  the  patron  of  letters  and  of  American  colonization,  died  in 
command  of  an  English  regiment,  in  the  Dutch  service,  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
1624.    The  fourth  earl  died  in  1667,  and  the  title  became  extinct. 

SStrachey's  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  161. 

I  See  this  charter  in  full  m  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges.    Appendix. 


8. 


17 

Council  of  Thirteen,  with  two  companies^,  one  of  Nortli, 
and  the  other  of  South-Virginia,  for  carrying  into  exe- 
cution the  plans  of  colonization  in  the  country.*  The 
venerable  Sir  John  Popham,f  Chief-Justice  of  England 
by  the  appointment  of  Elizabeth,  a  man  of  vast  wealth 
and  influence,  became  the  patron  of  the  Company ;  and 
his  son,  Sir  Francis  Popham,  was  appointed  by  the 
King,  with  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  one  of  the  Council 
of  Thirteen,  under  whom,  as  the  Council  of  Virginia, 
the  work  of  colonization  was  to  be  carried  forward.  J 
From  the  great  fame  of  Chief-Justice  Popham,  and  his 
interest  in  the  matter,  the  colony  sent  by  the  North- 
Virginia  Company  was  popularly  known  as  Popham's 
Colony,  though  his  name  was  not  in  the  charter,  or  in- 
cluded among  the  Council.  "The  planting  of  New- 
England  in  the  North,  was  by  Chief-Justice  Popham," 
said  the  Scotch  adventurers,  in  their  address  to  the 
King,  September  ninth,  1630,  recently  brought  to  our 
notice  from  the  British  State  Paper  Office.§  In  a  work 
entitled  Encouragement  to  Colonies^  by  William  Alex- 
ander, Knight,  in  16^5,  he  says:  "Sir  John  Popham 

*  The  CotNCiL  OF  Virginia,  appointed  by  King  James,  November  twentieth, 
1606,  consisted  oi  fourteen  persons  instead  of  thirteen.  Their  names  are  given  in 
a  subsequent  note. 

f  Sir  John  Popham  was  bom  at  Huntsworth,  near  Wellington,  in  Somersetshire, 
in  1531.  He  was  at  Oxford  in  1647,  became  distinguished  at  the  bar  in  15G0; 
was  made  Sergeant  at  Law,  and  Solicitor  General,  Juno  twenty-sixth,  1679.  He 
WU3  Speaker  of  the  Gommond  in  1681 ;  became  Attorney-General  June  first,1681. 
He  was  knighted  1692;  made  Chief-Justice  of.  the  Queen's  Bench  June  eighth, 
1692.  He  assisted  at  King  James's  coronation  in  1603.  September  fifth  and  sixth, 
1604,  King  James  and  the  Queen  w^re  entertained  at  Littleeote,  the  residence  of 
the  Chief-Justice.  Ho  was  the  richest  lawyer  of  his  time,  having  an  income  of 
ten  thousand  pounds  per  year.  He  died  June  first,  1U07,  and  was  buried  at  Well- 
ington. 

His  eldest  son  was  Sir  Francis  Popham,  whose  eldest  son,  John  Popham,  married 
June  twenty-first,  1621,  Mary,  only  daughter  of  Sebastian  Harvey,  at  Stoke  New- 
ington,  but  had  no  children.  The  family  of  the  Chief-Justice  in  supposed,  to  be 
extinct. 

The  fact  of  his  appointment  aa  Chief- Justice  by  Elizabeth,,  In  the  later  years  of 
her  life,  proves  him  to  have  been  a  great  lawyer.  Elizabeth  appointed  Uie  ablest 
men  she  could  find  to  public  office. 

1  See  this  charter  in  full  in  Poor's  Vindication.    Appendix.. 

gTbis  paper  is  now  printed  for  the  first  time  in  the  appendix  to  Fbor's  Vindiod- 
tiou  of  Gorges. 

2 


18 

sent  the  first  colony  that  went,  of  purpose  to  inhabit 
there  near  to  Sagadahoc."*  But  until  the  comparative- 
ly recent  publication  of  Strachey,  the  histoTT  of  this  col- 
ony was  almost  unknown.  Two  unsuccessful  attempts 
at  planting  a  coloiij  were  made  in  1606.t 

On  the  thirty-first  of  May,  1607,  the  first  colonv  to 
New-England  sailed  from  Plymouth  for  the  Sagadahoc, 
in  two  phips — one  called  the  "  Gift  of  God,"  whereof 
George  Popham,  brother  of  the  Chief  Justice,!  was 
commander ;  and  the  other,  the  "  Mary  and  John,"  com- 
manded by  Raleie^li  G  llbert  —  on  board  which  ships 
were  one  hun'^a'tv.'  and  twenty  persons,  for  planters. 
They  came  to  nnclior  under  an  island,  supposed  to  be 
Monhegaij,  the  thirty-first  of  July.  After  exploring 
the  coaso  aud  islands,  on  Sunday,  the  ninth  of  August, 
1607,  they  landed  on  an  island  they  called  St.  George, 
^\'here  they  heard  a  sermon,  delivered  unto  them  by  Mr. 
Seymour,  their  preacher,  and  so  returned  aboard  again. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  August  they  anchored  under  Seguin, 
and  on  that  day  the  "  Gift  of  God  "  got  into  the  river 
of  Sagadahoc.  On  the  sixteenth,  after  a  severe  storm, 
both  ships  got  safely  in,  and  came  to  anchor.  On  the 
seventeenth,  in  two  boats,  they  sailed  up  the  river — 
Captain  Popham  in  his  pinnace,  with  thirty  persons, 
and-  Captain  Gilbert  in  his  long-boat,  with  eighteen 
persons,  and  "  found  it  jl  very  gallant  river ;  many  good 
islands  therein,  and  many  branches  of  other  small  rivers 
falling  into  it,"  and  returned.  On  the  "  eighteenth,  they 
all  went  ashore,  and  there  made  choice  of  a  place  for 
their  plaT?tf^*ion,  at  the  mouth  or  entry  of  the  river,  on 

*  A  copy  of  thia  rare  work  is  in  the  poaseasion  of  Gen.  Peter  Foro»,  of  Washings 
ton  City. 

J  See  Poor's  Vindication,  pp.  88,  80 
Note  by  B.  H.  Major,  editor  of  Strackicy's  Tr«vfule  into  Virginia,  p.  27.    Pub* 
lislied  by  the  Haltluyt  Society — one  of  the  ^ol^uies  of  its  series.    Hubbard's  His- 
tdty  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  p.  10. 


19 


Bhing- 


Pub- 
Is  Hia- 


the  west  side,  (for  the  river  bendeth  itself  towards  the 
nor-eust  and  by  east,)  being  almost  an  island,  of  good 
bigness,  in  a  province  called  by  the  Indians, '  Sabino' — 
so  called  of  a  Sagamo,  or  chief  commander,  under  the 
grand  bashaba."  On  the  nineteenth,  they  all  went 
ashore  where  they  had  made  choice  of  their  planta- 
tion, and  where  they  had  a  sermon  delivered  unto  them 
I  their  preacher,  and  after  the  sermon,  the  President's 
cohimisyion  was  read,  with  the  patent,*  and  the  laws  to 
be  obser*  ed  and  kept.f 

•  By  the  origi/iftl  chart<  ■-,  the  c.  npany  had  the  right  to  sell  lands,  work  mines, 
coin  moil  V,  trau.-nort  thi  'ler  colonlHts,  expel  by  force  all  intruders,  raiste  a  reve- 
nue by  ill  )8ts,  cu  ry  out  'oods  free  of  duty  to  the  Crown,  for  seven  years,  with 
a  denization  of  all  i  Tsons  i    rn  or  residing  in  the  country. 

f  A  constituent  on  e  of  law  was  prepared,  and  signed  by  King  James,  in  accord- 
ance with  til'  provisi  'i  to  thi  effect  set  forth  in  the  seventh  scctiun  of  the  charter 
of  April  tenth,  1606.      ^     »*     "hartert  of  the  Old  English  ColoHie$,jp.  4. 

This  co"<ititiicnt  CO  •;  .  coi  ined  in  two  ordinances,  or  articles  of^ instructions, 
from  the  k  ing,  namolj 

iitieth,  1606,  appointing 


Thijiuas  Warr,  Esq., 
Thui  la  James,  Esq., 
->ir  I-  urdlnando  Gorges, 
'ir  George  More, 
->ir  Thomas  Smith, 


Sir  Henry.  Montague, 
John  Doddridge,  Esq., 
John  Eldred,  Esq., 
James  Bagg,  Esq., 


Lss  )ciate8,  and  annually  elect  a  President  for  one 
■rs  for  the  same  time. 


I.  Ordinance  dated  Nov '^ 
Sir  William  Wade, 
Sir  Walter  Cope, 
Sir  Francis  Po^fham, 
Sir  John  Trevor, 
Sir  William  Romney, 

as  the  Council  of  Virginia. 
This  ordinance  provided  t>. 

1.  Each  colony  may  elan 
year;  and  assistants  or  council 

2.  The  Christian  religion  >«.  H  be  preached  and  observed  as  established  in  the 
realm  of  England. 

3.  Lands  shall  descend  to  h*>>rs  as  provided  by  law  in  England. 

4.  Trial  by  jury  of  twelve  m*'n,  in  all  criminal  cases.  Tumults,  n^hellion,  con- 
spiracy, mutiny  and  sedition,  m  -'Icr,  manslaughter.  Incest,  rape  and  adultery, 
only,  are  capital  offences. 

5.  In  civil  causes,  the  President  and  Council  shall  determine.  They  may  pun- 
ish excesses  in  drunkenness,  vagrancy,  etc. 

6.  All  produce,  or  goods  imported,  to  be  stored  in  the  magazine  of  the  Company. 
7    They  shall  elect  a  clerk  and  treasurer,  or  cape-merchant. 

8.  May  make  laws  needful  and  proper,  contonant  with  the  laws  of  England 

9.  Indians  to  be  civilized  and  taught  the  Christian  religion. 

10.  All  offenders  to  be  tried  in  the  colony. 

11.  Oath  of  obedience  to  be  taken. 

12.  Records  of  all  proceedings  and  judgments  fully  set  forth  and  preserved,  im- 
plying a  right  of  appeal.  In  all  criminal  cases,  magistrates  to  suspend  sentence 
till  opportunity  of  pardon  is  had  by  the  king. 

Tliese  were  the  laws  "  to  be  observed  and  kept." 
(  See  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges.     Appendix.) 

II.  Ordinance,  dated  March  9th,  1607. 

On  the  recommendation,  or  nomination,  of  the  Southern  company,  the  following 
additional  members  of  the  Council  of  Virginia  were  appointed,  namely : 


20 


"George  Popliam,  gent.,  was  nominated  President. 
Captain  Raleigh  Gilbert,  James  Davies,  Rieliard  Sey- 
mour, Preacher,  Captain  Richard  Davies,  Captain  Har- 
lowe,  were  all  sworn  assistants ;  and  so  they  returned 
back  again."* 

Thus  commenced  the  first  occupation  and  settlement 
of  New-England. 

On  a  careful  examination  of  this  patent  of  King 
James,  and  of  the  ai-ticles,  instructions  and  orders  by 
him  set  down  for  the  government  of  these  colonies, 
we  are  struck  with  the  sagacity  and  statesmanship 
every  where  evinced  by  the  monarch.  He  rose 
superior  to  the  notions  of  his  times,  reduced  the 
number  of  capital  offences  to  ten,  and  declared  none 
should  be  capital  but  the  more  gross  of  political,  and 
the  more  heinous  of  moral  crimes.  He  gave  them  all 
the  liberties  they  could  desire. 

In  the  subsequent  charters  for  Virginia  and  New- 
England,  the  same  broad  principles  of  self-govern- 
ment were  in  the  main  reenacted. 

In  the  contests  with  the  King  and  Parliament  of 
England,  one  hundred  and  fifty  yeai*s  later,  the  colo- 


Siv  Ed  w'd  Michilbourne,  Kt, 
Sir  Tliomaa  Smith,  Kt., 
Sir  Robert  Croft,  Kt., 
Sir  Edward  Sandys,  Kt., 
Sir  Anthony  Pahner. 


Sir  Thomas  Challoner,  Kt.,  Sir  George  Kopping,  Kt., 
Sir  Henry  Nevil,  Kt.,  Sir  Thomas  Rowe,  Kt., 

Sir  Robert  Mansfield,  Kt.,    Sir  Fulke  Grevil,  Kt., 
Sir  Maurice  Berkeley,  Kt.,  Sir  John  Scott,  Kt., 
Sir  Thomas  Holcroft,  Kt.,    Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  Kt, 
Sir  Robert  Kelligrew,  Kt., 

On  the  recommendation  or  nomination  of  the  Northern  Colony,  the  following 
additional  members  of  the  Council  of  Virginia  were  appointed : 

Sir  Edw'd  Hungerford,  Kt.,Sir  Richard  Hawkins,  Kt.,     Bernard  Greenville,  Esq  , 
Sir  John  Mallett,  Kt.,        Sir  Bartholomew  Mitehell,Kt.,Edward  Rogers,  Esq., 
Sir  John  Gilbert,  Kt.,*      Edward  Seamour,  Esq.,         Rev.  Matthew  Sutcliff,  D.D. 
Sir  Thomas  Freake,  Kt., 

These  appointments  made  the  Council  of  Virginia  to  consist  of  forty  instead  of 
thirteen.  There  was  a  further  provision  that  "  any  twelve  of  them,  at  least  for  the 
time  being,  whereof  six  at  least  to  be  members  of  one  of  the  said  colonies,  and  six 
more  at  least  to  be  members  of  the  other  colony,"  "shall  have  power  to  choose  offi- 
cers, call  meetings,"  etc.    (See  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges.    Appendix.) 

*  Strachey,  p.  301,  Maine  Hist.  Coll.  vol.  iii. 

*  Oldmixon's  History  of  BritiDh  Empire  In  America,  snys  Sir  John  Gilbert  was  Prealiient  cf  tlie 
Northern  Virginik  Company,  p.  41.    Stith's  Illiitory  of  Virginia,  pp.  74,  7S. 


iSM|M|iiMill|ll 


21 


niats  only  demanded  their  ancient  rights,  as  subjects  of 
the  British  crown.  From  August  19, 0.  S.,  1607,  the  title 
of  England  to  the  new  world  was  maintained.  At  this 
place  they  opened  a  friendly  trade  with  the  natives, 
put  up  houses  and  built  a  small  vessel,  during  the 
autumn  and  winter. 

Richard  Bloome,  in  his  History  of  tJie  Present  State 
of  the  Territories  in  America,  printed  in  London  1687, 
says:      ' 

"In  the  year  1607,  Sir  John  Popham  and  others 
settled  a  plantation  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Saga- 
dahoc. But  Capt.  James  Davis  chose  a  small  place, 
almost  an  Island,  to  sit  down  in,  when,  having  heard 
a  sermon,  read  the  patent  and  laws ;  and  after  he 
had  built  a  fort,  sailed  further  up  the  river.  They 
call  the  fort  St.  George,  Capt.  George  Popham  being 
President;  and  the  people  (savages)  seemed  to  be 
much  affected  with  our  men's  devotion,  and  would  say 
King  James  is  a  good  King,  and  his  God  a  good 
God ;  but  our  God,  Tanto,  is  a  naughty  God. 

"  In  January,  in  the  space  of  seven  hours,  they  had 
thunder,  lightning,  rain,  frost  and  snow  all  in  very 
great  abundance." 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1608,  George  Popham 
died,*  and  his  remains  were  deposited  within  the  wall 
of  his  fort,  which  was  named  Fort  St.  George. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Popham  Colony,  or  a  por- 
tion of  them,  returned  to  England  in  1608,  with  the 
ship  they  had  built  on  this  peninsula,  the  first  speci- 
men of  naval  architecture  constructed  on  this  continent, 
named  the  "  Virginia  of  Sagadahoc." 

But  this  possession  of  the  Popham  Colony  proved 


•  t 


*  Prince's  New-England  Chronology,  p.  118 ;  Brodhead's  History  of  New- York, 
p.  14. 


22 


sufficient  to  establish  the  title.  The  revocation  of 
the  charter  to  De  Monts  gave  priority  to  the  grant  of 
King  James,  covering  the  same  territory,  and  this 
formal  act  of  possession  was  ever  after  upheld,  by  an 
assertion  of  the  title  by  Gorges.  It  was  sufficient, 
effectually,  to  hold  the  country  against  the  French  and 
Spaniards  alike.*  When  Argall,  in  1613,  destroyed 
the  French  settlement  at  Mount  Desert,  f  the  French 
Minister  demanded  satisfaction  at  the  hands  of  the 
British  nation.  J    But  no  notice  was  taken  of   this 

'''The  Spanish  Secretary  of  State  in  1612  and  1613  complained  to  King  Jaiues 
for  allowing  his  subjects  to  plant  in  Virginia  and  Bermuda,  as  the  country  belonged 
to  Spain,  by  the  conquest  of  Castile  who  acquired  it  by  the  discovery  of  Columbus, 
and  the  Pope's  donation ;  to  which  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  Secreiary  of  State,  by  order 
of  King  James  made  cnswer:  "Spain  has  no  possemons  north  of  Florida.  They 
belong  to  the  crown  of  England  by  right  of  discovery  and  actual  possession  by 
the  two  Englwh  colonies  thither  deducted^  whereof  the  latter  is  yet  there  remainiiig. 
These  countries  should  not  be  given  over  to  the  Spanish." 

Cal.  of  Col.  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  14,  Nos.  28  and  29 ;  also  page  16,  Nos.  31 
and  32. 

In  the  memorials  of  the  English  and  French  Commission  concerniiif;  the  limits 
of  Nova-Scotia  or  Acadia,  under  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  the  French  Commissioners 
say  :  "  The  Court  of  France  at^udged  that  they  had  the  right  to  extend  the  western 
limits  of  Acadia  as  far  as  the  River  Kiunibequi,"  (p.  39.)  On  page  98  of  the 
sanje  Collections  it  says :  "  Chief-Justice  Pophnm  planted  the  colony  at  Sagadahoc." 

f  Mount  Desert  was  so  named  by  Champlain  in  1605.  The  English  named  it 
Mount  Mansell,  in  honor  of  Sir  Robert  Munsell,  the  highest  naval  officer  of  Eng- 
land, one  of  the  grantees  of  the  Virginia  Company  of  1609,  and  of  the  New-Eng- 
land Company  in  1620.  But  it  has  retained  the  name  of  Mount  Desert.  It  has  always 
been  celebrated  for  the  excellence  of  its  harbor  and  the  boldness  of  its  shores. 
It  is  the  most  celebrated  locality  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  tod  one  of  the  three  great 
harbors  of  the  continent.  The  French  Jesuits,  who  settled  there  in  1613,  called  it 
St.  Saviour.  Their  precise  place  of  settlement  is  described  in  the  Relations  of  the 
Jesuits,  vol.  i.  p.  44,  46,  and  Las  been  identified  by  the  accurate  explorations  of 
the  Hon.  E.  L.  Hamlin,  of  Bangor,  the  present  year.  In  Poor's  Vindication  of 
Gorges,  Appendix,  page  103,  is  a  translation  of  the  Jesuit  Relation,  describing 
this  place,  and  of  its  destruction  by  Argall. 

What  is  of  still  more  interest  is  the  fact  that  this  was  the  easternmost  limits  of 
Mavosheen,  or  of  the  English  discoveries  up  to  1 609.  See  Purchase,  vol.  iv.  p.  1873. 
L'Rscarbot,  the  historian  of  New-France  and  of  Dc  Monts'  expedition,  says  the 
Sagamo  Marchin  was  residing  at  their  next  place  west  of  Kinnibequi,  and  tlioy 
named  the  place  Marchin,  (Portland,)  in  honor  of  him.  Marchin  was  slain  in  1607, 
and  Bessabes  was  chosen  captain  in  his  place.  Bcssubes  was  slain  also,  and  then 
Atticou  was  chosen  in  his  stead.  According  to  the  statement  in  Purchase,  vol.  iv.  p. 
1873-4,  at  the  easternmost  part  of  Mavosheen,  at  the  river  of  Quibiquesson,  dwelt 
Asticou,  In  1613,  Asticou  was  dwelling  at  Mount  Desert,  and  the  assurance  given 
by  his  followers  to  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse  of  his  being  sick  and  desirous  of  bap- 
tism at  their  hands,  led  them  to  go  thither,  and  finally  to  yield  to  entreaties  for 
making  their  settlement  there,  instead  of  at  Kadesquit,  (Kendiiskcag,)  Bangor,  on  the 
Penobscot,  as  they  had  agreed  in  1611.  It  would  seem  from  these  facts  that  the 
authority  of  Asticou  extended  from  Mount  Desert  to  the  Saco,  the  river  of  the 
Sagamo  Olmouchin. 

\  Calendar  of  Colonial  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  IS. 


81 


28 

demand,  because  the  French  could  show  no  claim  of 
title.  Again  in  1624,  M.  Tillieres,  the  French  Ambas- 
sador,  claimed  the  territory  of  New-England  as  a  por- 
tion of  New-France,  and  proposed  to  yield  all  claim  to 
Virginia,  and  the  country  as  far  south  as  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico ;  overlooking  entirely  the  title  of  Spain  to 
Florida,  which  had  always  been  recognized  as  extend- 
ing to  the  thirty-third  parallel  of  north  latitude. 
France  had  at  this  time  become  aware  of  the  im- 
portance of  securing  the  title  and  possession  of  these 
shores.*  King  James  called  on  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges 
to  prepare  a  reply  to  the  claims  of  the  French  monarch. 
"  Whereunto,"  says  Gorges,  "  I  made  so  full  a  reply  (as 
it  seems)  there  was  no  more  heard  of  their  claim."  f 
From  the  abstract  of  this  reply,  recently  printed  in 
the  Calendar  of  British  State  Papers,  it  would  seem 
that  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  Leyden  flock,  who  were 
then  at  Plymouth ;  but  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  based 
the  claim  of  his  government  on  the  ground  of  the 
charter  of  1606,  and  the  formal  occupation  of  the 
country  under  it,  with  a  continued  claim  of  title. 

In  1631,  Champlain,  the  greatest  mind  of  his  nation, 
ever  engaged  in  colonial  enterprise,  the  boldest  and 
most  wary  of  all  his  countrymen,  second  only  to 
Gorges  in  the  results  he  achieved,  —  in  his  memoir  to 
his  sovereign,  as  to  the  title  of  the  two  nations,  says : 
"  King  James  issued  his  charter  twenty-four  years  ago, 
for  the  country  from  the  thirty-third  to  the  forty-fifth 
degree.  England  seized  the  coast  of  New-France,  where 
lies  Acadia,  on  which  they  imposed  the  name  of  New- 
.JCngland."  J  - 

The  Dutch  West-India  Company,  in  their  address 

*  Cal.  of  Col.  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  60. 

f  Gorges'  Briefe  Narration,  p.  40. 
J  Doc.  Hist,  of  New-York,  vol.  ix.  p.  112. 


2i 

to  the  States  General,  1632,  say:  "In  the  year  1606, 
his  Majesty  of  Great  Britain  granted  to  his  subjects, 
under  the  names  of  New-England  and  Virginia,  north 
and  south  of  the  river,  (Manhattoes,)  on  express  condi- 
tion that  the  companies  should  remain  one  hundred 
milea  apart.  Whereupon  the  English  began,  about  the 
year  1607,  to  settle  by  the  river  of  Sagadahoc.  The 
English  place  New-England  between  the  fcHy-iirst 
and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  north  latitude."  * 

In  Gameau's  Histoi'y  of  Canada^  speaking  of  the  de- 
struction of  Mount  Desert,  and  Port  Royal,  in  1613,  he 
says :  "  England  claimed  the  territory  to  the  forty-fifth 
degree  of  north  latitude."  This  was  seven  years  before 
the  date  of  the  New-England  Charter.  This  claim  was 
founded  on  possession ;  for  England  stoutly  maintained, 
from  the  time  of  Elizabeth  onward,  that  without  posses- 
sion there  was  no  valid  title  to  a  newly  discovered 
country.  ..i 

This  view  of  history  is  overlooked  by  Puritan 
writers,  and  those  who  follow  their  authority.  That 
protection  of  the  British  nation  which  enabled  the 
Puritans  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  humble  fol- 
lowers of  Robinson,  to  establish,  unmolested,  homes 
in  the  New  World,  under  organized  forms  of  govern- 
ment, was  grudgingly  acknowledged'  by  them,  and  the 
man  who  secured  to  them  these  blessings,  and  watched 
over  them  with  the  same  jealous  care  as  of  his  own 
colony  —  they  always  stigmatized  as  their  great  enemy,f 
because,  among  other  acts  of  humanity,  he  allowed  the 
mild  and  conscientious  men,  who  could  not  yield  im- 
plicit obedience  to  their  fierce  doctrines,  and  more 
barbarous  laws,  %  to  escape  into  Maine,  and  there  remain 

•  Holland  Doc.  N.  T.,  p.  61. 

+  Winthrop,  vol.  il.  p.  14 ;  Bradford's  Hist,  of  Plymouth,  p.  828. 
\  None  but  church  members  shall  be  allowed  the  privileges  of  freemen. — Statute 
of  1631,  Massachusetts  Colony  Laws,  p.  117. 


25 

unliarmed.  When  Cromwell  granted  to  Sir  Thomas 
Temple  the  country  east  of  the  Sagadahoc,  at  the  time 
that  the  persecution  of  the  Quakers  was  at  its  greatest 
height,  with  the  design  of  affording  them  a  place  of 
refuge  beyond  the  limits  even  of  the  Province  of 
Maine,*  which  they  had  just  conquered  by  violence; 
the  anger  of  Massachusetts  Puritans  fell  upon  the 
head  of  the  Protector,  himself  a  Puritan,  and  an  In- 
dependent of  the  straitest  sect  at  home.  But  time 
allows  no  allusion  to-day  to  historic  details,  except 
what  is  essential  to  the  vindication  of  tlie  truth  of 
history.  The  fact  that  the  19th  of  August,  Old  Style, 
is  the  true  date  of  the  foundation  of  England's  title 
to  the  continent,  is  all  we  are  called  upon  to  estab- 
lish. 

It  may  be  said,  that  in  giving  this  prominence  to  the 
occupation  of  the  country  by  the  colony  of  Popham, 
we  overlook  other  events  of  importance  in  establishing 
the  English  title — the  possession  of  the  Elizabeth  Isles 
by  Gosnold  in  1602,  and  the  settlement  of  Jamesto^vn 
May  13th,  1607,  prior  to  the  landing  of  the  Popham 
Colony  at  Sagadahoc. 

In  reference  to  the  occupation  of  Elizabeth  Isles  by 

Any  attempt  to  change  the  form  of  government  is  punishable  with  death. — Statute 
of  1641,  Col.  Laws,  p.  69. 

AbHCDce  from  meeting  on  Sunday,  fast,  or  thanksgiving,  subjected  the  offender 
to  a  fine. — Col.  Laws,  p.  103. 

Keeping  or  observing  Christmas  was  punishable  by  fine. — Col.  Laws,  p.  119. 

Wages  to  be  regulated  in  each  town  by  vote  of  the  freemen  of  each. — Col. 
Laws,  p.  156. 

Baptists  are  to  be  punished  by  banishment. — Colony  Laws,  1646,  p.  120. 

Quakers  to  be  imprisoned  and  then  banished,  on  pain  of  death  if  they  returned. 
—Colony  Laws,  1658,  p.  123. 

Witches  shall  be  put  to  death  — Colony  Laws,  164T,  p.  59. 

Magistrates  shall  issue  warrants  to  a  constable,  and  in  his  absence  to  any  person, 
to  cause  Quakers  to  be  stripped  naked  from  the  middle  upward ;  tied  to  a  cart's 
tail,  and  whipped  from  town  to  town  till  conveyed  out  of  our  jurisdiction. — Colony 
Laws,  p.  125. 

Under  these  laws  Baptists  had  their  cars  cropped  in  Boston  as  late  as  1658,  and 
Quakers  were  put  to  death. 

*  N.  Y.  Doc.  Hist,  vol  ix.  p.  11,  1o. 


26 


Goanold,  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  it  was  prior  to  tlie 
date  of  the  Royal  Charter,  and  consequently  of  no 
legal  effect  in  establishing  title.  As  to  the  settlement 
of  Jamestown,  it  was  south  of  the  fortieth  parallel  of 
latitude,  and  therefore  did  not  come  in  conflict  with 
the  French  King's  prior  charter  to  De  Monts.  The  ter- 
ritory between  the  fortieth  and  the  forty-fifth  degrees 
only,  was  in  dispute.  Although  the  maps  of  the  time 
made  New-France  to  extend  from  the  thirty-third  to 
the  fiftieth  degree  of  north  latitude,  France  practically 
abandoned  the  country  south  of  the  fortieth  degree 
from  the  time  of  the  grant  of  the  charter  to  De  Montn, 
so  that  below  that  line  south,  it  was  open  to  any  people 
who  might  have  the  courage  to  possess  it ;  this  south 
line  of  De  Monts'  grant,  intersecting  what  is  now  Penn- 
sylvania, just  north  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  cutting 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  very  nearly  in  their  centre. 
Had  there  been  no  English  settlement  or  occupancy 
north  of  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude  prior  to  1610, 
when  Poutrincourt  obtained  a  new  grant  of  Acadia,  the 
whole  country  north  of  that  line  must  have  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  French. 

The  reason,  undoubtedly,  why  France  at  this  time  ex- 
tended her  claims  no  further  south  than  the  fortieth  par- 
allel was,  a  fear  of  exciting  the  jealousy  and  hostility  of 
the  Spaniards.  In  1562,  when  Ribaut  and  Laud/^nniere 
planted  at  Port  Royal,  Spain  looked  upon  it  as  an  in- 
vasion of  her  just  domain,  and  promptly  expelled  the 
French  invaders.  Recent  discoveries  show  that  she 
watched  with  a  most  jealous  eye  the  fate  of  the  earlier 
voyages  of  Cartier  from  1534  to  1541.*  Spain,  at  that 
time,  was  the  great  military  and  naval  power  of  Europe. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  limiting  of  De  Monts' 
charter  to  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude,  seven  degrees 

*  See  Historical  Magaziue,  January,  1862,  p.  14. 


27 

short  of  all  her  previous  claims,  was  induced  by 
a  dread  of  Spanish  interference.  Spanish  jealousy 
showed  itself  equally  in  opposition  to  the  English  oc- 
cupation of  the  country,  but  their  prompt  assertion  in 
1613  of  their  title,  averring  the  actual  occupation  of  the 
countiy,  and  the  denial,  on  the  part  of  King  James,  of 
any  validity  in  the  Bull  of  the  Pope,  upheld  the  right 
of  England. 

It  was  not  Spain,  however,  but  France  that  became 
the  actual  competitor  of  England  in  the  struggle  for 
the  new  dominion.  The  relations  of  Spain  and  France 
were  friendly.  Between  Spain  and  England  there 
were  many  irritations,  and  so  far  had  this  ill-feeling 
grown,  that  the  capture  of  English  ships  by  Spanish 
cruisers  was  not  an  uncommon  occurrence,  as  in  the 
case  of  Challons,  and  others,  bound  to  New-England, 
for  purposes  of  colonization. 

The  French;  therefore,  made  no  claim  to  that  Vir- 
ginia occupied  by  the  colony  at  Jamestown,  while 
Spain  claimed  the  whole  country.  French  plans  of 
empire  looked  northward  and  westward,  resting  their 
base  on  the  great  inland  sea,  or  gulf  lying  inside  Cape 
Sable  and  Cape  Cod,  where,  for  a  whole  century  pre- 
vious, from  1504,  and  onward,  their  fishermen  had 
found  the  choicest  treasures  of  the  sea. 

Whoever  held  this  region,  as  all  now  see,  must 
eventually  become  the  dominant  power  of  the  New 
World.  -  ^. 

The  national  feeling  was  not  fully  aroused  in  either 
country  to  the  greatness  of  the  prize  at  stake.  Cham- 
plain  comprehended  the  true  measure  of  the  occasion, 
and  its  importance  to  his  country;  while  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  Gorges,  with  equal  grasp  of  intellect,  rested  on  a 
more  secure  foundation  the  confidence  of  his  sovereign. 


28 


But  the  people  of  England  were  incapable  of  estimat- 
ing the  value  of  the  prize,  or  doing  justice  to  the  man 
who  secured  it. 

In  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1621 
and  1622,  on  the  bill  to  abrogate  or  annul  the  New- 
England  ch'^Her,  and  throw  open  the  fisheries,  briefly 
reported  in  the  parliamentary  journals,  the  issue  was, 
"  WTiich  is  of  most  value,  fishing  or  plantations  f "  and 
the  result  showed  that  the  enemies  of  colonization  were 
in  the  ascendant,  and  a  bill  to  this  eflfect  passed  the 
Ilousc.  By  the  influence  of  the  King  actiug  with  the 
Lords,  it  was  prevented  from  becoming  a  law.* 

From  the  time  of  the  first  conflict  at  Mount  Desert, 
where  Father  Du  Thet  was  killed  in  defending  his 
home,  in  1613 — the  first  shedding  of  blood  between 
the  French  and  English  on  this  continent — ^till  the  fall 
of  Quebec,  in  1759,  and  the  Treaty  of  Peace  conse- 
quent thereon,  in  1763,  surrendering  New-France  to 
Great  Britain,  there  was  a  strife  of  races,  of  nationali- 
ties and  of  religion  for  the  territory  of  New-England, 
while  Virginia,  along  the  Atlantic  slope,  was  never 
molested  by  the  French. 

The  western  boundary  of  Virginia  was  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  she  came  into  conflict  with  France  when  she 
crossed  the  AUeghanies  and  descended  into  the  Missis- 
sippi Basin,  and  there  met  the  French  settlers,  who  had 
seized  upon  the  western  waters,  claiming  a  continuous 
possession  of  the  entire  regions  drained  by  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  Had  Eng- 
land acquired  nothing  in  the  way  of  title  in  the  New 

*  April  19,  1621,  "Mr.  Xeale  said  three  hundred  ships,  at  least,  had  gone  this 
year  from  these  ports,"  p.  591.  Nov.  20,  1621,  ''Mr.  GlanviUe  moved  to, speed 
the  bill,"  etc.  "  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  hath  exhibited  patent,"  etc.  "  Friday 
next  Sir  F..G.,  to  be  heard,"  p.  640.  Dec.  1,  1621,  Bill  under  consideration. 
"  Mr.  Guy  moves  a  provision ;  debate  by  Mr.  Neale,  Mr.  Secretary,  Dr.  Gooch,  Sir 
Edward  Gyles,  Mr.  Guy,  and  Shewell,  which  is  of  most  value,  Ashing  or  planta- 
tions? £120,000  brought  in  annually  by  fishing."  "  Provision  lost.  Bill  passed, 
p.  654." — Extracts  from  the  Journal  of  the  Commons. 


29 


World  north  of  the  fortieth  parallel  prior  to  the  Ply- 
mouth  Plantation  in  1620,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  France  would  have  swept  the  British  power  from 
the  continent  at  the  first  clash  of  arias  with  Great 
Britain. 

It  was  this  possession  of  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  within  the  limits  of  the  fortieth  and  forty-fifth 
degrees  of  north  latitude,  prior  to  1610,  that  settled 
the  future  destiny  of  the  continent  of  North- Am  erica. 
The  consummation  of  title,  therefore,  perfected  by  the 
act  of  possession  of  August  nineteenth,  O.  S.  1607,  by 
the  Popham  Colony,  whose  two  hundred  and  fifty-fifth 
anniversary  we  this  day  celebrate,  must,  if  these  premi- 
ses are  admitted,  forever  remain  the  great  fact  in  the 
history  of  the  New  World.  "   , 

The  Maine  Historical  Society,  whose  duty  it  is  made, 
by  the  charter  establishing  it,  "  to  collect  and  preserve 
whatever  may  tend  to  explain  and  illustrate  the  civil, 
ecclesiastical,  and  natural  history  of  this  State  and  the  ' 
United  States,"  was  pleased  to  approve  of  the  act  of 
two  of  its  members,  then  in  the  service  of  the  State, 
who  petitioned  the  authorities  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment, that  this  great  work  of  national  defence,  then 
about  to  be  undertaken,  should  be  named  Four 
PoPHAM,  in  honor  of  George  Popham,  the  Governor, 
who  led  the  first  British  Colony  into  New-England, 
under  the  charter  of  April  10,  1606,  and  who,  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  his  office  as  President,  and  pre- 
senting a  report  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  to  the  King, 
dated  at  Fort  St.  George,  December  13,  1607,*  here 
laid  down  his  life — the  first  man  of  the  English  ract; 
whose  bones  were  laid  beneath  the  soil  of  New-Eng- 
land. 

•  Poplwiu's  Letter  iu  the  Maine  Uist.  Coll.  vol.  v.  p.  341. 


t   !l 


80 

The  venerable  Chief  of  the  Engineer  Bureau  of  the 
United  States  Army,  to  whom  this  petition  was  re- 
ferred, ever  jealous  of  the  honor  of  his  country,  not 
only  as  to  the  character  of  its  military  structures,  but 
as  to  the  names,  to  whose  honor  they  should  attest — 
promptly  indorsed  the  application,  and  it  met  the  ready 
approval  of  the  Secretary  of  War.*  ^ 

To  mark,  with  greater  distinctness,  the  event  thus 
commemorated,  the  Maine  Historical  Society  asked 
permission  to  place  within  the  walls  of  this  Fort  a 
Memorial  Stone,  bearing  on  its  face  an  appropriate  in- 
scription of  the  event ;  and  that  a  Tablet,  in  memory 
of  George  Popham,  so  honorably  associated  with  the 
great  event  of  that  period,  should  be  allowed  to  form  a 
portion  of  its  walls. 

By  the  favor  of  the  Government  we  have  this  day 
performed  that  duty,  with  appropriate  form  and  cere- 
mony. The  learned  President  of  the  Maine  Historical 
Society  has  announced  the  historic  facts  on  which  this 
'  somewhat  novel  proceeding  has  taken  place.  The  ac- 
complished and  honored  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State 
has  given  to  the  occasion  the  influence  of  his  official 


*  The  following  correspondence,  copied  from  the  files  of  the  War  Office,  showa 
the  prompt  action  of  the  Government  in  the  matter : 

To  THE  Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War : 

The  undersigned,  citizeng  of  Maine,  respectfully  request  that  the  new  Fort  to 
be  erected  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kenebec  river,  in  Maine,  may  be  named  Fort 
Popham,  in  honor  of  Capt.  George  Fopham,  brother  of  the  learned  Chief-Jtistice 
Popham,  of  England. 

Capt.  George  Popham,  as  the  Governor  of  the  first  English  Colony  in  New-Eng- 
land, built  a  fort  at  or  near  the  site  of  the  proposed  fort,  in  the  year  1607,  where 
he  died  February  6,  1 608,  and  was  buried,  being  the  first  person  of  his  race  whose 
bones  were  laid  beneath  the  soil  of  New-England,  and  whose  grave  will  be  appro- 
priately marked  by  the  fort  that  rises  over  his  place  of  burial. 

(Signed)  John  A.  Poor, 

Washington,  November  18,  1861.  Reuel  Williams. 

This  proposal  for  a  name  was  favorably  received  nt  the  Engineer  Bureau,  by 
General  Totten,  who  laid  the  niatter  before  the  Secretary  of  War. 

On  the  23d  of  November,  General  Cameron  acted  on  the  foregoing  petition,  and 
entered  thereon:     "  Name  approved. 

"  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War. 

"War  Department,  Washington,  November  23, 1861." 


^tnt'h  and  the  more*  ace  •  tible  s^a-vite  of  eloquent 
wortJ  ,  j)roelMiming  the  i/ht  rtance  uf  the  event  com- 
mero  lilted,  {Mm  tb  hisstory  of  the  country  and  the 
world,  vvhi  lie  T"/  ?icopal  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
Maine  uikI  he  Prt  dent  of  our  oldest  Seminary  of 
learning,  an  ibdravm  of  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  Maine  Historical  Society,  have  jointly  participated 
in 'the  appropriate  services  of  this  occasion,  and  that 
most  ancient,  Masonic  Fraternity,  has  lent  to  the  cele- 
l)ration  whatever  of  dignity  or  grace  the  wisest  of 
their  Order  have  been  able  to  embody  in  artistic  form 
and  expression.  "With  the  consent  of  the  Government, 
these  imposing  ceremonies  have  proceeded,  and  finally 
the  skillful  hand  of  him  who  is  charged  with  the  con- 
struction of  this  Fort,*  will  place  this  stone  in  its  final 
resting  place — ^for  the  information  of  those  who*  come 
after  us  —  proclaiming  to  future  times,  in  the  simple 
eloquence  of  tinithful  words,  that 

The  First  Colony 
On  the  Shores  of  New-England 
Was  Founded  Here, 
•  August  19th,  O.  S.  1607, 

under 
George  Popham. 

It  would  ill  comport  with  the  dignity  of  this  occa- 
sion to  fail  to  speak  of  him,  whose  name  is  thus  imper- 
ishably  connected  with  the  history  of  our  State  and 
Nation.  To  his  family  and  the  events  of  his  life  others 
may  more  appropriately  refer.  We  allude  to  him  as  a 
public  man,  and  to  his  claims  to  public  gratitude  and 
respect.  His  chief  distinction  is,  that  he  was  one  of 
the  eight  persons  named  in  the  great  charter  of  April 
10th,  1606,  and  that  he  led  to  these  shores  the  first  col- 
ony under  that  charter.    In  it  he  is  styled  gentl&many 

*  Captain  T.  L.  Caaey,  IT.  S.  Engineera. 


82 

and  he  mui*t  Lave  K  en  a  lunii  of  consequence  and  posi- 
tion, from  thft  fttct  tliat  he  waH  one  of  ita  grantees. 
After  his  death,  Gorges,  in  a  few  brief  lines,  thus  sums 
up  his  character:  "He  was  well  ntricken  in  years,  and 
had  long  been  an  infirm  man.  Ifovviioever,  heartened 
by  hopes,  willing  he  was  to  die  in  acting  something 
that  might  be  serviceable  to  God,  and  honorable  to  his 
country."*  A  glorious  consummation  of  a  long  life, 
devoted  to  duty,  to  his  country,  and  his  God.f 

Within  the  walls  of  this  Fort,  and'  as  a  companion- 
piece  to  the  memorial  stone,  which  records  the  historic 
fact  of  this  day's  celebration,  the  Maine  Historical  So- 
ciety will  place  a  tablet  in  memory  of  George  Popham, 
expressing,  in  that  sonorous  Latin  language  which  he 
employed  in  his  communication  to  the  King,  and  which 
was  at  that  time  used  by  all  who  wrote  for  enduring 
fame,  these  words : 

In  Memoriam 
GEORGII    POPHAM, 

Angliae  qui  primus  ab  oris 

Coloniam  collocavit  iii  Nov.  Angliae  terris, 

August!  mensc  annoque  MDCVII. 

Leges  literasque  Anglicanas 

£t  fidem  ecclesiamque  Christi 

In  has  sylvas  duxit. 

Solus  ex  colonis  atque  senex  obiit 

Nonis  Februariis  sequentibus, 
Et  juxta  hunc  locum  est  sepuhus. 

Societatt  Historica  Mainensi  auspicantc. 

In  praesidio  ejus  nomen  ferente. 

Quarto  die  ante  calendas  Septembrcs 

Annoque  MDCCCLXII. 

Multis  civibus  intuentibus. 

Hie  lapis  positus  est. 


•  Qorg.8'  Briefe  Narration,  p.  22,  vol.  il.  Maine  Hist.  Coll. 
f  Mrs.  Sigoumey  has  since  embodied  in  song,  in  one  of  her  happiest  efforts,  tho 
heroic  deeds  of  Popham.    See  Appendix  C. 


83 


[TRAtfUATION.] 

• 

In  Memory  or 
GEORGE    POPHAM 

Who  first  fron.  the  shores  of  England 

Founded  a  Colony  in  New-England 

August,  1607. 

He  brought  into  these  wilds 

English  laws  and  learning 

And  the  faith  and  the  Church  of  Christ. 

He  only  of  the  colonists,  and  in  his  old  age,  died 

On  the  fifth  of  the  following  February 

And  was  buried  near  this  spot. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society 
In  the  Fort  bearing  his  name 

August  29,    1862,  ^  ' 

In  thf  ■  ■•  of  many  citizens  '     ,i 

,.as  placed.  •     ' 

This  fort,  so  consj^ic^uouoiy  placed,  bearing  these  ap- 
propriate testimonials,  thus  becomes  a  fitting  monument 
to  perpetuate  the  events  of  the  early  history  of  New- 
England,  and  transmit  to  future  times,  the  memory  of 
those  illustrious  men  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Eng- 
lish colonies  in  America ;  to  which  the  laws,  the  insti- 
tutions and  civilization  of  England  were  transferred, 
and  from  which,  has  sprung  the  glorious  fabric  of 
American  Constitutional  Government. 

Standing  here  to-day,  in  sight  of  the  spot  where  Pbp- 
ham,  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  ago,  took  upon 
himself  the  office  of  President,  and  near  the  place  where, 
on  the  fifth  of  February  following,  he  died,  it  seems  our 
privilege  to  be  admitted  into  his  presence-chamber,  as 
for  the  last  time  he  had  summoned  around  him  his 
faithful  assistants  and  companions,  and  gave  commands 
for  the  future.  The  scene  is  worthy  of  a  painter^s  pen- 
cil and  a  poet's  pen.  The  ever-faithful  and  heroic 
Raleigh  Gilbert,  "a  man,"  says  Gorges,  "worthy  to  be 
3 


beloved  of  them  for  his  industry  and  care  for  their  well- 
being" — the  future  President  of  the  colony — is  by  his 
side.  The  pious  Richard  Seymour  administers  to  him 
words  of  comfort  and  consolation.  Captain  Richard 
Davies,  of  all  his  assistants,  was  absent  in  England. 
His  devoted  companions  stand  around  their  dying  chief, 
when,  in  the  language  of  Israel's  great  law-giver,  laying 
the  burden  of  the  government  on  Joshua,  he  might  well 
say  to  Raleigh  Gilbert:  "Be  strong  and  of  a  good 
courage,  for  thou  must  go  with  this  people  into  the 
land  which  the  Lord  hath  sworn  unto  their  fathers  to 
give  them:  and  thou  shalt  cause  them  to  inherit  it. 
And  the  Lord  he  it  is  that  doth  go  before  thee:  he 
will  be  with  thee,  he  will  not  fail  thee,  neither  forsake 
thee :  fear  not,  neither  be  dismayed." 

"  So  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died  there,  in 
the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
And  he  buried  him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab, 
over  against  Bethpeor;  but  no  man  knoweth  of  his 
sepulchre  unto  this  day." 

In  the  far-distant  future,  not  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  years  from 'this  day,  the  period  of  time  that  has  in- 
tervened since  his  death,  but  in  that  period  of  more 
than  three  thousand  years  to  come,  like  that  from  the 
death  of  Israel's  law-giver,  to  that  of  Popham,  these 
stones  which  are  here  builded,  shall  mark  the  place  of 
his  sepulture,  and  the  myriads  of  thronging  pilgrims,  led 
by  eager  curiosity,  to  tread  the  soil  of  this  peninsula  of 
Sabino,  hereafter  made  classic  by  song  and  story,  shall 
pause  and  read,  on  that  memorial  stone,  the  record  of 
his  great  work ;  and  when  we  who  are  now  here,  shall 
have  passed  away,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  story  or 
tradition,  Popham's  name  shall  live  in  the  histofy  of  the 
mighty  race,  who  have  changed  this  continent  from  one 


35 


vast  wildernesss  to  a  marvel  of  refinement  and  beauty, 
fitted  for  tlie  enjoyment  of  civilized  man. 

His  sagacity  and  ability  are  best  evidenced  by  the 
fact,  that  after  the  experience  of  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  years,  the  highest  military  skill  has  confirmed  the 
wisdom  of  his  choice  of  a  place  of  settlement,  by  the 
adoption  of  it  as  the  proper  site  of  the  great  work  of 
defence  for  the  Kennebec  River.* 

To  this  spot  multitudes  shall  annually  repair,  for  this 
region  will  continue  to  be,  what  it  ever  was,  to  the  early 
navigators  and  colonists  of  both  France  and  England — 
a  chief  point  of  interest.  The  French  historian  L'Es- 
carbot,  speaking  of  this  river,  says  "*^  sJwrtened  the 
way "  to  the  great  river  of  Canada.f  Gosnold's  land- 
fall, in  1602,  was  at  Sagadahoc. J  Pring,  in  1603, 
made  it  the  .chief  point  of  his  discoveries ;  and  the 
great  voyage  of  Weymouth  was  to  "the  most  ex- 
cellent and  beneficyall  river  of  Sagadahoc."§  Here 
the  English  remained  in  1608  and  1609,  as  related  by 
the  French  Jesuits.  |     Here  Vines  pursued  his  voca- 

*  See  Note  A,  with  its  accompanying  Map.  "' 

+  L'E8carbot,  p.  497. 

\  Strachey,  Hakluyt  Society  edition,  p.  165 ;  caption  at  tLe  iead  of  tlie  chapter. 
See  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges,  p.  30,  note  2. 

§  Much  controversy  and  discussion  have  arisen  as  to  the  route  of  Weymouth,  and 
as  to  the  river  he  explored.  Bellcnap's  authority  was  generally  accepted,  fixing  it  at 
the  Fenobsco^,  till  the  critical  eye  and  more  ample  knowledge  of  the  late  John 
McKeen,  Esq.,  detected  its  errors.  He  maintained  that  the  Kennebec  was  the 
true  river.  Mr.  George  Prince  and  Rev.  Mr.  Gushman  have  argued  in  favor  of  the 
river  St.  George.  Mr.  B.  K.  Sewall  and  Rev.  Mr.  Ballard  maintain  the  views  of 
Mr.  McKeen.  Hon.  W.  Willis  adheres  to  Belknap's  authority.  Strachey's  posi- 
tive statement  that  it  was  the  Sagadahoc,  was  unknown  to  Belknap. 

I  find  in  Purchase,  a  fact  not  alluded  to  by  any  of  these  writers,  that  may  aid  in 
solving  the  difficulty.  John  Stoneman,  of  Plymouth,  who  went  out  with  Wey- 
mouth, in  1606,  sailed  as  pilot  in  the  ship  Richard,  pf  Plymouth,  in  charge  of 
Henry  Ghallons  commander,  in  Ck>rges'  employ,  to  found  the  colony  at  Sagadahoc, 
in  1606.  Nicholas  Hine,  of  Cockington,  near  Dartmouth,  was  master.  Although 
Ghallons  failed  of  his  object,  by  disregarding  his  instructions,  and  was  taken  cap- 
tive by  the  Spaniards,  his  purpose  of  going  to  Sagadahoc  is  expressly  stated,  and 
his  pilot  was  of  Weymouth's  party  in  1606. 

This  discovery  of  the  name  of  Hine^  as  master  under  Ghallons,  also  relieves  us 
of  the  difficulty  in  the  apparent  contradiction  between  Gorges  and  Strachey ;  the 
former  using  the  name  of  Ghallons  as  master,  the  latter  calling  the  master's  name 
Haines,  leading  us  to  suppose  ^liere  were  two  several  Toy»2^^>  instead  of  one  in  fact. 

I  Relations  of  the  Jesuits,  vol.  i.  p.  36. 


m 


tion,*  and  hither  all  the  fishing  vessels  came,  because 
the  finest  fish  were  taken  in  this  region.  The  salmon 
of  the  Kennebec  are  to  this  day  known  in  all  our  cities. 

The  Council  of  New-England,  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  July,  1622,  set  apart  "  two  great  islands  in  the  river 
of  Sagadahoc  to  be  reserved  for  the  public  plantation," 
and  "  a  place  between  the  branches  of  the  two  rivers  " 
"/<9/'  a  pvhliG  cltyyf  Though  the  strife  of  races  and 
of  nationalities  has  kept  back  the  settlement  of  this 
whole  region,  and  the  still  more  disastrous  conflicts  of 
rival  grants  and  hostile  occupation,  destroyed  for  gen- 
erations all  plans  of  improvement,  who  shall  dare  to 
say  that  these  plans  shall  not  be  realized  ? 

When  this  Acadian  peninsula,  with  its  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  square  miles  of  territory,  and  its 
abundant  resources,  shall  contain  a  population  equal 
to  that  now  peopling  the  British  Isles, — ^this  magnifi- 
cent estuary,  with  its  deep  sea-soundings,  discharging  a 
larger  volume  of  water  than  any  river  of  the  Atlantic 
coast,  between  the  St.  John  and  the  Mississippi,  may 
become  the  chief  seat  of  wealth  and  power,  of  the 
mighty  race  who  inhabit  the  continent, — why  then  9)mf/ 
not  the  history  of  other  lands  become  ours,  and  another 
Liverpool  here  rival  the  great  commercial  city  of  "New- 
England;  and  Boston  become*  to  the  city  of  the  Saga- 
dahoc, what  Bristol  is  to  the  great  shipping  port  of  the 
Mersey?}: 

•  We  miss  from  our  celebration  to-day,  one  who  was 
instrumental  in  creatine:  the  immediate  occasion  of  it, 
and  in  affixing  the  name  of  Popham  to  this  great  pub- 

*  Gorges'  Briefe  Narration,  p.  24. 

f  Minutes  of  tlie  Council  of  New-England,  July  twenty-fourth,  1622.  Calendar 
of  Col.  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  32.  This  paper  is  given  in  full  in  Poor's  Vindica- 
tion of  Gorges,  in  the  Appendix. 

:j:  Tlie  extraordinary  advantages  of  Bath  for  a  naval  and  military  depot,  are  ad- 
mitted by  all  military  engineers,  but  no  effort  adequate  to  such  a  cousuiumaliuu 
has  yet  been  made. 


i 


lie  work,  and  who  looked  forward  with  prophetic  eye 
to  this  day's  proceedings. 

The  propriety  of  associating  important  historic  events 
with  works  of  national  defence,  and  of  attesting  thereby 
to  the  fame  of  the  actors  therein,  met  the  approval  of 
his  mature  judgment,  and  his  last  act  of  public  duty 
was  an  appeal  to  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  erection 
of  this  fort,  and  affixing  to  it  the  name  it  now  bears.* 
His  stern  countenance  relaxed  into  a  smile  at  the  first 
suggestion  of  this  anniversary  celebration,  and  the  plac- 
ing within  the  walls  of  this  fort  of  this  memorial  stone. 

Born  on  the  banks  of  this  river,  the  place  of  his  birth 
continued  for  fourscore  years  to  be  his  home ;  and  with- 
out the  aid  of  anything  but  his  strong  character  and  his 
indomitable  will,  he  reached  wealth  and  eminence  early 
in  life,  and  bore  at  the  close  of  it,  the  title  of  "  the  first 
citizen  of  Maine."  f 

This  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  pronounce  his  eulogy : 
an  abler  pen  at  the  appointed  hour  shall  perform  this 
pleasing  duty.  But  among  the  many  memorials  of  his 
enterprise  and  public  spirit  that  adorn  the  banks  of  the 
Kennebec,  this  foi-t  attests  and  will  attest  the  praise  of 
Reuel  Williams,  while  it  is  made  by  this  day's  celebra- 
tion a  fitting  monument  to  preserve  in  remembrance 
the  greater  events  of  an  earlier  time. 

We  must  not,  in  this  connection,  forget  our  obliga- 
tions to  the  people  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts, 
and  the  early  settlers  of  Plymouth,  for  their  share  in 
conquering  the  continent  for  our  race,  though  deal- 
ing harshly  with  Maine.  J    These  Massachusetts  Puri- 

*  By  appointment  of  Governor  Washburn,  Mr.  Williams  visited  Washington, 
November  first,  1861,  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Maine,  in  reference  to  the 
public  defences  of  the  State,  liis  first  /isit  after  eighteen  years'  absence.  He 
retired  from  the  Senate  in  1 843,  resigning  after  having  been  reelected  for  six  years, 
lie  left  Washington  November  eighteenth,  1861,  after  a  personal  interview  on  that 
day  with  the  Secretary  of  War. 

f  Hon.  L  Washburn,  Jr.,  Governor  of  Maine. 

l  See  petition  of  Edward  Godfrey  and  other  inhabitants  of  Maine,  to  the  Parliar 
ment  of  the  Commonwealth.    Cul.  Col.  State  Papers,  vol  i.  p.  479. 


88 

tans  of  the  Saxon  type,  inheriting  all  tlie  gloomy 
errors  of  a  cruel  and  bloody  period,  under  the  iron 
rule  of  the  Tudors,  were  ready  to  demand  of  Elizabeth 
the  enforcement  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity  against 
Papists,  but  refused  obedience  to  it  themselves.  Nor 
would  they  yield  to  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the 
clergy,  who  in  1562,  in  full  convention,  voted  to  retain 
the  priestly  vestments  and  the  forms  of  a  liturgy.  While 
agreeing  to  all  the  doctrines  of  its  creed,  they  grew 
restless  under  the  forms  of  the  church  service,  elevated 
non-escentials  into  the  dignity  of  principles,  and  stigma- 
tized the  Prayer-Book  and  the  priestly  robes  as  badges 
of  Popery. 

They  imagined  that  by  a  severe  austerity  they 
secured  the  favor  of  God,  and  became  his  chosen  peo- 
ple. They  mistook  their  hatred  of  others  for  hatred  of 
sin.  They  set  up  their  own  morbid  convictions  as  the 
standard  of  right,  and  rather  than  submit  to  the  laws 
of  their  own  land,  they  endured  their  penalties,  or 
sought  escape  from  them  by  expatriation. 

Once  planted  on  the  shores  of  New-England,  the 
Puritans  of  Massachusetts  Bay  endeavored  to  extermi- 
nate every  thing  that  stood  in  the  way  of  their  ambi- 
tion. *    Hence,  after  their  conquest  of  Maine,  they 


Also,  Godfrey's  Letters  in  Mr.  Geo.  Folsom's  Catalogue  of  Papers  in  the  English 
State  Paper  Office  in  relation  to  Maine,  pp.  62,  54. 

*  The  charter  of  the  Massachusetts  Company  of  March  4th,  1629,  author- 
ized them  to  make  laws  and  ordinances  for  their  government,  "no<  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  England.'"  Notwithstanding  this  they  proceeded  at  once  to  frame 
a  code  of  laws  designed  for  the  purpose,  abrogating  the  laws  of  England  whenever 
they  stood  in  the  way  of  their  own  wishes.  The  obvious  purpose  of  the  charter 
was  to  allow  such  minor  regulations  to  be  made  as  might  meet  the  peculiar 
wants  of  the  local  population.  A  similar  provision  is  inserted  i^  charters  in 
modern  times,  designed  to  allow  the  recipients  of  such  grants  to  exercise  their 
rights  in  any  way  they  choose,  not  infringing  any  of  the  general  laws  of  the  State. 
These  Puritans  construed  their  grant  differently  from  all  others,  because  they  designed 
to  establish  a  religious  community  on  a  plan  of  their  own,  discarding  all  portions 
of  the  English  law,  unless  reenacted  by  themselves. 

Their  be-praised -Body  of  Liberties  enacted  in  1641,  but  not  printed  till  within 
about  thirty  years  since,  virtually  abrogated  the  laws  of  England. 

Equally  striking  was  their  claim  to  the  territory  of  Maine.  The  political  troubles 
at  home,  from  1637  to  the  restoration  of  Charles  IL,  in  1C60,  withdrew  ^>ublio 


m 


gloried  in  extirpating  every  trace  of  title  granted  to 
others,  making  war  on  whatever  was  opposed  to  them, 
aiming  at  unlimited  despotism.  True,  they  planted 
other  men's  fields,  instead  of  devastating  them,  and 
seized  upon  the  territory  of  others  by  the  same 
authority  and  in  the  same  spirit  as  the  Israelites 
drove  out  the  tribes,  that  formerly  possessed  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  the  student  of  Ameri- 
can history  that,  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, as  at  the  beginning,  the  two  great  geographical 
divisions  of  English  dominion  on  this  continent,  north 
of  the  Delaware,  were  "  the  Provinces  of  New-York  and 
Sagadahoc."  Such  are  the  definitions  employed  in  the 
grant  of  that  dominion  by  King  Charles  II.  to  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  York ;  and  such  are  t!ie  titles 
under  which  the  Duke  of  York,  when  he  ascended  the 
throne  as  James  II.,  commissioned  his  Governor,  Col. 
Thomas  Dongan,  afterwards  Earl  of  Limerick,  to  exer- 
cise authority  over  these  countries.  In  England,  a 
country  of  precedents,  where  the  law  advisers  of  the 
Crown  always  scrupulously  adhered  to  ancient  records 
in  the  preparation  of  official  documents,  such  recogni- 
tion, eighty  years  after  the  death  of  George  Popham,  is 
another  proof,  if  any  were  wanting,  of  the  legal  estab- 
lishment of  England's  claims  in  these  latitudes  being 
inseparable  from  the  foundation  of  the  first  settlement, 
which  to-day  we  commemorate. 

To  review,  in  the  most  hurried  manner,  the  events 

attention  almost  entirely  from  America,  and  it  was  not  till  1676  that  the  heirs 
of  Gorges,  nearly  worn  out  iu  the  controversy,  obtained  a  decision  in  their  favor 
against  her  usurpation?.  Thereupon  March  13,  1677,  for  £1260  they  purchased 
the  title  of  Gorges'  heirs. 

Finally  in  1684,  on  scire  facias,  the  Court  of  Chancery  declared  their  charter 
forfeited,  and  thereby  put  an  end  to  the  Ma-ssachusetta  theocracy. 

A  new  charter  protecting  all  Protestant  Christians  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religion,  was  granted  by  William  and  Mary,  in  1691,  including  the  colony  of 
Plymouth  and  of  Massachusetts,  the  Province  of  Maine,  and  Sagadahoc,  undrr  one 
governmeut,  and  Sir  William  Phipps,  a  native  of  Maine,  was  appointed  Governor. 


} 


affecting  our  race,  that  have  transpired  within  the  two 
hundred  and  iifty-five  years  since  it  was  planted  here, 
would  transcend  the  proper  limits  of  this  occasion.  Less 
than  five  millions  of  people,  at  that  time  engaged  in  the 
ruder  forms  of  labor,  were  shut  up  in  the  narrow  liitits 
of  the  British  Isles, — those  who  speak  the  English  lan- 
guage to-day  in  the  two  hemispheres,  hold  dominion 
over  one  fifth  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  govern  one 
fourth  of  the  human  species* 

Their  material  greatness  commenced  with  colonizing 
North-America.  Slowly,  patiently  and  in  much  suffer- 
ing, our  fathers  gained  possession  of  this  soil.  The 
title  was  secured  by  the  act  of  possession  of  the  Pop- 
ham  Colony.  Others  came  in  to  help  to  hold  it; 
political  troubles  at  home  favored  emigration  hither ; 
and  one  hundred  years  after  Popham,  three  hundred 
thousand  people  of  the  Saxo-Norman  race  inhabited 
the  then  eleven  existing  colonies.  During  the  next 
sixty  years  they  had  mastered  the  French,  and  gained  the 
Atlantic  slope  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Florida.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  the  next  one  hundred  years  the  same  peo. 
pie  had  grown  into  the  Colossal  Empire  of  the  West,  em- 
bracing thirty-four  States,  and  regions  yet  unpeopled  of 
still  greater  extent,  including,  in  all  their  dominions,  a 
territory  equal  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  inhabited 
by  more  than  thirty  millions  of  human  beings,  speak- 
ing one  language ;  while  a  new  power  has  arisen  in 
North- America,  the  Colonial  Empire  of  Great  Britain, 
extending  over  a  larger,  but  less  valuable  territory  than 
the  United  States,  and  containing  more  than  three  mil- 
lions of  inhabitants. 

Temporary  differences  and  periods  of  alienated  feel- 
ing, will  from  time  to  time  arise,  but  nothing  can  pre- 
vent the  gradual  and  cordial  union  of  the  English- 
speaking  people,  of  this  continent  in  every  thing  essen- 

♦  See  Appendix  D. 


41 


tial  to  their  highest  welfare.  Though  divided  into 
various  governments,  each  pursuing  its  own  lawful 
ends,  in  obedience  to  that  principle  of  political  harmo- 
ny, tliat  allows  each  to  revolve,  in  its  own  appropriate 
orbit,  around  its  common  centre,  an  enlightened  sense 
of  justice,  and  obedience  to  the  Divine  law,  as  the 
highest  of  all  good  to  communities  and  states,  is  the 
daily  lesson  of  their  life.  Let,  then,  each  returning  an- 
niversary of  this  day's  commemoration  draw  closer  and 
closer  the  bonds  of  fraternal  fellowship,  and  strengthen 
those  ties  of  lineage  that  shall  gradually  encircle  the 
earth,  and  constitute  all  mankind  of  various  races  and 
nationalities,  one  final  brotherhood  of  nations. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  have  sufficed  to 
change  this  wilderness  continent,  as  if  by  enchantment, 
into  the  home  of  a  refined  civilization.  Cultivated 
fields,  clustering  villages,  the  refinements  of  city  life, 
rise  to  our  immediate  view ;  stretching  from  this  point 
eastward  to  Ascension  Bay, — northward  to  the  Lauren- 
tian  Hills,  —  southward  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
westward  to  the  Pacific  seas,  where  San  Francisco,  at 
the  Golden  Gate,  at  the  touch  of  the  telegraph,  sends 
to  us  kindly  gi'eetings  for  this  hour. 

The  improvement  in  agricultural  implements,  the 
•wondei-s  of  the  power-loom  and  the  spinning-jenny,  the 
marvels  of  the  steamship,  the  mysteries  of  the  photo- 
graph, the  magic  of  the  telegraph,  and  the  omnipotent 
power  of  the  locomotive  railway,  have  since  been  made 
our  ever-willing  ministers,  so  that  man  seems  almost  in- 
vested with  ubiquity  and  omnipotence ;  yet  each  re- 
volving year  brings  forth  new  marvels,  till  the  finite 
mind  is  ovenvhelmed  at  any  attempt  to  forecast  the 
future.  . 

And  the  historian  of  our  race  traces  back  this  develop- 
ment to  the  two  first  acts  in  the  great  drama  of  Ameri- 
can history  by  which  the  title  of  England  to  the  Con- 


42 


tinent  was  established  ;  the  first,  closing  with  the  grant 
of  the  Great  Charter  of  April  10th,  1606 ;  the  second, 
with  the  formal  act  of  possession  of  the  New  World 
under  it,  August  19th,  O.  S.  1607,  thereby  making  the 
title,  forevei'  clear  and  unquestionable. 

On  that  day,  and  upon  this  peninsula  of  Sabir  was 
unfurled  that  proud  flag  that  had  so  long  braved  the 
battle  and  the  breeze ;  then  our  fathers'  flag — and  now 
the  flag  of  the  Fatherland — and  beneath  its  waving 
folds  were  proclaimed,  for  the  first  time,  the  political 
principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  free  govern- 
ment, in  ever  memorable  words. 

"  I  give,"  said  King  James, "  to  my  loving  subjects,  lib- 
erty to  settle  Virginia,  in  the  north  of  America,  between 
the  thirty-fourth  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  north  lati- 
tude.    I  authorize  them  to  transport  thither  any  of  my 
own  people,  or  those  of  other  lands,  and  appoint  over 
them  a  government  of  their  own  choice,  subject  to  my 
approval,  according  to  the  laws  of  this  kingdom.     I  au- 
thorize them  to  work  mines,  coin  money,  collect  duties 
by  imposts,  and  to  expel  all  intruders  therefrom  by  mili- 
taiy  force ;  and  I  declare,  that  all  children  born  therein, 
and  all  persons  residing  therein,  are,  and  shall  always 
remain  citizens,  entitled  to^all  the  rights,  privileges,  and 
immunities  of  the  loyal  subjects  of  the  British  realm. 
"  And  I  do  further  declare,  that  these,  my  loving 
Subjects,  shall  have  the  right  annually  to  elect  a  Pres- 
ident,  and  other  officers  ;    that  the   Christian    Keli- 
gion,  established  in  this  our  kingdom,  shall  be  therein 
preached  and  observed;  that  lands  shall  descend  to 
heirs,  according  to  the  provisions  of  our  ancient  laws  ; 
that  trial  by  jury  of  twelve  men  is  established  in  all 
ciiminal  cases,  with  a  right  of  pardon  by  the  King ; 
that  in  civil  causes  the  President  and  Council  shall  de- 
termine between  party  and  party,  keeping  full  records 


43 


of  all  proceedings  and  judgments,  with  a  right  of  ap- 
peal to  the  King  in  council;  that  no  man  shall  be 
tried  as  an  offender  outside  of  the  Colony  where  the 
alleged  offence  was  committed,  and  no  offences  shall 
be  capital  except  tumult,  rebellion,  conspiracy,  mutiny, 
and  sedition,  murder,  manslaughter,  incest,  rape,  and 
adultery.  And  I  do  further  declare,  and  ordain,  that 
my  loving  subjects  in  America  shall  forever  possess  and 
enjoy  the  right  to  make  t'll  needful  kws  for  their  own 
government,  provided  only,  that  they  be  consonant  to 
the  laws  of  England.  And  these,  my  loving  subjects, 
shall  be,  and  forever  remain,  entitled  to  the  protection 
of  the  British  Crown,  and  I  establish  over  them  the 
government  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland."* 

This  charter  of  liberties  was  never  revoked.  It  was 
a  decree  of  universal  emancipation,  and  every  man  of 
any  color,  from  any  clime,  was  by  this  act  of  King 
James  redeemed,  regenerated,  disenthralled,  the  moment 
he  touched  the  soil  of  America,  between  the  thirty- 
fourth  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  north  latitude ;  and 
he  at  once  became  entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship—  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  decree 
of  Lord  Mansfield  struck  off  the  chains  and  fetters 
from  the  African  in  England.  This  ordinance  also 
established  the  right  of  the  people  to  self-government, 
subject  only  to  the  paramount  authority  of  the  Crown 
and  Laws  of  England. 

These  solemn  formalities,  unknown  to  any  other  of 
the  early  colonies,  counselled  by  the  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  of  England,  whose  brother,  as  President  of  the 
infant  commonwealth,  planted  on  these  shores  the  em- 
blems of  the  au'^hority  of  his  nation, — proclaimed  in  no 
doubtful  accen     lo  all  other  nations,  that  here,  the  title 

*  Sec  Poor's  Vindication  of  Gorges,  Appendix^  for  this  constituent  Code  of  Laws 
of  King  James. 


of  England  was  established.  That  pledge  of  the  pro- 
tection of  his  government,  which  every  Englishman  lias 
always  felt  when  he  planted  his  foot  on  any  portion  of 
the  empire  of  his  sovereign,  gave  strength  and  courage 
to  this  colony, — and  when  the  humhle  settlers  of  Ply- 
mouth, thirteen  years  later,  impressed  with  their  feet 
the  sandy  shores  of  Cape  Cod,  the  claim  of  England  to 
the  country  had  been  vindicated  and  established,  against 
the  asserted  claims  of  both  Spain  and  France. 

The  power  of  England  remained  undisturbed  west 
of  Sagadahoc,  and  southward,  till  it  was  finally  yielded 
on  the  third  of  September,  1783 — one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  years  from  the  time  it  was  first  planted — 
when  all  political  connection  with  Great  Britain  was 
dissolved,  on  the  conclusion  of  the  Definitive  Treaty 
of  Peace.  In  announcing  that  fact.  King  George  the 
Third  said :  "  In  thus  admitting  their  separation  from 
the  Crown  of  these  kingdoms,  I  have  sacrificed  tvery 
consideration  of  my  own,  to  the  wishes  and  opinions 
of  my  people.  I  make  it  my  humble  and  earnest 
prayer  to  Almighty  God,  that  Great  Britain  may  not 
feel  the  evils  which  might  result  from  so  great  a  dis- 
memberment of  the  empire;  and  that  America  may 
be  free  from  the  calamities  which  have  formerly 
proved,  in  the  mother  country,  how  essential  monarchy 
is  to  the  enjoyment  of  constitutional  liberty.  Religion, 
language,  interest,  affections  may,  and  I  hope  will  yet 
prove  a  bond  of  permanent  union  between  the  two 
countries.  To  this  end  neither  attention  nor  dispo- 
sition on  my  part  shall  be  wanting." 

Memorable  words,  for  they  admit  the  national  eiTor. 

But  the  repentance  of  the  King  had  come  too  late. 
The  loyal  subjects  of  King  James  had  planted  on  these 
shores  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
under  his  guidance  and  his  express  authority',  and  it 
was  not  in  the  power  of  King  or  Parliament,  after  one 


45 

lumtlrecl  and  seventy-six  years  of  tlie  exercise  of  these 
rights,  to  reclaim  them  by  force  of  arms. 

It  was  in  defence  of  rights  granted  by  King  James 
that  our  fathers  took  up  arms,  against  the  arbitrary  en- 
actments of  King  George  the  Third  and  his  Parlia- 
ment, imder  the  lead  of  Sir  George  Grenville,  then 
first  Minister  of  the  Crown.  They  defended  a  princi- 
ple since  made  universal  in  its  application,  in  every 
l)art  of  the  British  Colonial  Empire.  They  claimed 
only  their  rights  as  loyal  subjects  of  Great  Britain. 

Our  fathers  charged  the  acts  of  oppression,  com- 
mencing in  1763,  and  er.ding  in  the  Revolution  of 
1776,  on  the  King,  as  the  responsible  head  of  the 
British  government,  but  the  exact  truth  still  remains 
obscured,  from  want  of  public  access,  till  a  recent  date, 
to  the  state  papers  of  that  period.  If  the  odium 
of  these  acts  shall  justly  fall  on  the  head  of  the  Min- 
ister rather  than  on  the  Kincr,  to  what  an  eminence  of 
guilt  did  Sir  George  Grenville  attain,  and  how  differ- 
ent the  award  of  future  ovcr  cotemporary  times'  and 
opinions,  as  to  the  claims  to  veneration  of  the  two  mm 
of  England  most  intimately  associated  with  American 
affairs.  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  the  father  of  Englisli 
Colonization  in  America,  a  priv^ate  citizen, — and  Sir 
George  Grenville,  the  highest  officer  of  state,  who 
inaugurated  those  measures  that  caused  the  final  sepa- 
I'ation  of  the  thirteen  North- American  Colonies  from 
the  British  Crown, — an  event,  under  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  was  achieved,  every  day  seen  to  have  been 
most  disastrous  to  humanity  and  our  race. 

The  mind  of  each  one  present  instinctively  turns  back 
to-day,  over  this  long  line  of  history,  pausing  to  survey, 
in  this  broad  sweep,  the  great  epochs  that  mark  its 
progress.  It  lingers  longest  in  contemplating  the 
initiatory  steps  that  gave  title  and  possession  to  the 


country, — and  delights  to  loiter,  here,  around  this  cher- 
ished spot,  and  recall  to  present  view  the  deeds  of 
Gorges  and  Popham,  and  those  who  assisted  them  to 
transport  hither  the  Saxo-Norman  race ;  for  that  race, 
planted  on  this  new  continent,  has  favored  and  illus- 
crated  every  thing  that  tends  to  the  advancement  of 
freedom  and  humanity,  whatever  may  have  been  its 
occasional  errors. 

We  have  established  our  power  as  a  people,  developed 
the  natural  resources  of  our  country,  and  demonstrated 
the  ability  of  our  government  to  resist  foreign  aggres- 
sion. One  further  duty  remains — the  vindication  of  its 
principles  in  reference  to  ourselves.  Can  a  government, 
resting  for  its  strength  and  support  on  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  so  far  maintain  its  power  as  to  suppress  in- 
surrection without  weakening  the  safeguards  to  personal 
liberty  ?  Can  popular  elections  fill  the  highest  offices 
of  the  state,  and  insure  that  strength  and  stability  to 
the  government,  that  can  vindicate  its  power  in  times  of 
domestic  ins  .rrection,  or  open  rebellion,  like  that,  now 
shaking  it  to  its  foundations  ? 

Putting  our  trust  in  that  power  that  alone  can  save  us, 
invoking  that  arm  that  can  alone  be  stretched  forth  for 
our  deliverance,  we  bow  our  wills  to  the  Divine  teaching. 

What  though  at  this  hour  clouds  ai»d  darkness  hang 
like  a  thick  pall  over  our  country,  and  in  the  excess  of 
our  marvellous  prosperity,  we  are  called  for  a  time  to 
self-abasement  and  trial,  the  race  shall  survive  all 
shocks  of  civil  strife  and  of  foreign  invasion,  and  rise 
superior  to  both ;  this  free  government  emerge  into  the 
full  strength  and  measure  of  its  giant  proportions ;  and 
"  the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,"  known  and 
honored  throughout  the  earth,  shall  once  more  float, 
full  and  free,  as  in  former  days,  over  a  united  and 
prosperous  people. 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A. 

To  enable  those  not  familiar  with  the  localities  of  Sabino,  to  understand 
the  allusions  made  to  them,  a  map  and  a  brief  description  are  given. 

The  Sagadahoc  river,  kk)  famous  in  the  early  history  of  the  country,  is 
formed  by  the  junction  of  two  largo  rivers,  the  Androscoggin  and  the  Ken- 
nebec, at  Merrymccting  Bay,*  twenty-five  miles  from  the  sea,  from  whicli 
junction  the  Sagadahoc  is  a  deep  estuary  of  very  irregular  width,  often  con- 
tracted into  narrow  limits,  but  carrying  a  largo  volume  of  water  to  the 
ocean. 

At  its  mouth,  between  Stage  Island  on  the  eastern  shore,  and  the  lower 
end  of  the  Peninsula  of  Sabino  on  th(>  west,  it  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
width.  One  mile  above  this,  is  its  narrowest  point,  where  the  north-east 
point  of  the  Sabino  Peninsula  projects  far  out  into  the  channel,  nearly  op- 
posite which  point,  only  a  few  rods  higher  up  the  river,  the  lower  end  of  a 
sharp  rocky  isle,  called  Long  Island,  narrows  the  main  channel  to  less  than 
a  third  of  a  mile.  There  is  no  navigable  passage  on  the  eastern  side  of  this 
island.  This  outermost  north-eastern  point  of  the  Sabino  Peninsula  is  the 
site  of  Fort  Popham.  It  was  occupied  by  a  small  fort  in  the  war  of  1812. 
Above  this  point  opens  out  Adkins  Bay,  extending  south-west  for  a  mile  or 
more,  whore  formerly  it  evidently  connected  with  the  ocean.  In  Do  Barre's 
chart,  made  for  the  British  government  between  1764  and  1774,  it  is  laid 
down  as  flats,  subject  to  the  overflow  of  the  tide,  between  this  Bay  and  the 
ocean.  At  the  present  time,  there  is  enough  of  earth  formed  by  action  of 
the  sea,  to  aflbrd  a  good  road-bed,  free  from  overflow,  connecting  Sabino 
with  the  mainland. 

From  Merrymeeting  Bay  south  to  the  ocean,  there  is  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  narrows,  formed  by  high,  sharp,  projecting  points  of  rock,  alternat- 
ing into  broad  reaches  or  bays.  A  reach  of  some  miles  in  front  of  the  city 
of  Bath,  varying  from  one  half  to  a  mile  in  width,  having  abundant  depth  of 
water,  forms  one  of  the  noblest  landlocked  harbors  in  the  world,  when  the 
river  turns,  first  east,  at  right  angles,  then  again  south,  between  high,  rocky 
shores,  with  great  depths  of  water.  Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  or  pic- 
turesque than  the  sail  betweon  Merrymeeting  Bay  and  the  sea. 

As  you  descend  towards  the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  Island  of  Seguin,  a 
high,  rounded,  rocky  ridge,  rising  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  nbovt-  the  sea- 
level,  stands  directly  in  front,  apparently  closing  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
though  three  miles  distant  from  it,  clothed  with  a  native  growth  of  ever- 
green to  its  summit.  Above  this,  rises  a  first-class  lighthouse,  holding  in  its 
spacious  ii  on  lantern  a  Fresnel  lens  of  the  largest  size,  seen  for  more  than 
twenty  miles  at  sea,  and  for  a  very  great  distance  from  the  hig! .  lands  of  the 
interior. 

The  Peninsula  of  Sabino  is  the  outer  point  of  the  mainland,  on  the  right 

*  Marimitin.  See  Futboi  Dreuilletta'  Journal  of  an  Embassy  from  Canada  to 
New-England,  in  1650,  {Miblished  from  a  translation  of  John  G.  Shea,  with  valuable 
notes,  in  the  Collections  of  the  New- York  Historical  Society,  1857,  vol.  iii.  Second 
Series,  part  i.  page  303.  The  countiy  was  then  occupied  from  Gushnoo  (Augusta)  to 
Merrymeeting  Bay. 


48 

or  west  bank  of  the  river,  three  miles  from  Seguin.  It  Is  very  nearly  an  ir- 
regular triangle  in  shape,  its  shortest  lino  fronting  the  Sagadahoc — the  other 
two  side-lines  formed,  one  by  Adkins  Bay,  and  the  other  by  the  ocean.  It 
rises  into  two  rocky  ridges,  lying  nearly  east  and  west  of  each  other,  with 
a  deep  depression  running  north  and  south  the  bulk  of  the  land,  lying  west  of 
it,  where  it  rises  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  into  two  considerable  peaks 
in  a  ridge  running  north  and  south.  In  the  valley,  or  narrow  depression 
running  north  and  south,  the  land  is  free  from  stones,  and  the  soil  is  made 
up  chiefly  of  sand.  Toward  its  southern  end  there  is  a  beautifully  clear 
lake  or  pond  of  fresh  water  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  Peninsula.  The 
level  of  this  lake  is  o  ily  about  thirty  or  forty  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  said 
at  times  to  be  reached  by  the  flashing  spray  'A'hich  is  dashed  with  pro- 
digious force  at  times  upon  this  rocky  shore. 

Near  the  shore  of  Adkins  Bay  is  a  spring  of  water  half  a  mile  from  the  site 
of  Fort  Popham,  near  which,  are  remains  of  ancient  habitations ;  and  those 
who  have  explored  the  localities  profess  their  belief  that  the  principal  fort 
was  in  the  "  vicinity  of  this  spring."  There  is  an  old  gentleman  still  living, 
more  than  ninety  years  of  age,  who  was  present  at  the  celebration,  who  tes- 
tifies to  the  ploughing  across  a  covered  way  between  the  ruins  of  an  old  fort 
and  this  spring  of  water,  in  his  early  days.  • 

The  whole  Peninsula  was  originally  covered  with  a  forest  growth,  and 
materials  would  have  been  abundant  ibr  the  building  of  houses  and  a  stock- 
ade fort. 

As  to  the  probable  site  of  their  fort,  that  must  depend  upon  the  purpose  of 
its  construction.  If  an  European  foe,  Spaniard  or  French,  was  dreaded,  the 
site  of  the  present  fort  would  naturally  be  chosen.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
enemy  they  feared  was  the  Indian,  they  would  naturally  select  a  spot  conve- 
nient to  fresh  water,  where  they  could  best  guard  the  approach  of  the  foe, 
coming  across  the  neck,  that  alone  connected  the  peninsula  with  the  main. 
The  site  pointed  out  as  that  of  their  fort,  would,  in  that  view  of  the  case,  be  at 
once  determined  on  the  southern  shore  of  Adkins  Bay,  near  to  the  neck, 
in  the  vicinity  of  this  spring. 

No  one  can  fail  to  perceive  the  wonderful  foresight  of  the  men  who  selected 
this  spot  for  their  plantation.  Easily  approached  at  all  times  by  water, 
capable  of  being  defended  at  all  points,  those  in  possession  of  this  peninsula 
hold  complete  control  of  the  country  and  the  rivers  above,  one  of  the  finest 
agricultural  districts  in  New-England.  It  was  also  the  finest  river  for  fish 
on  the  coast.  When  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  were  considering  the  ques- 
tion of  abandoning  their  home,  from  the  poverty  of  the  soil  and  the  want  of 
means  of  subsistence,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  gave  them  a  valuable  tract  of 
land  on  the  Kennebec  in  1629,  at  the' time  he  established  their  boundaries 
at  Plymouth,  which  they  farmed  out  to  advantage,  deriving  thence,  and  from 
the  fisheries  their  chief  means  of  support.  The  facts  stated  by  B'^thcr 
Dreuilletts,  at  the  time  of  his  visit  in  1650  and  1651,  are  of  great  historic 
interest. 

At  the  time  of  the  celebration,  the  level  floor  or  parade  of  the  fort  was 
occupied  by  the  largo  assemblage  of  people.  A  platform  facing  east,  over- 
looked the  fort  and  the  Sagadahoc  river,-  resting  for  its  background  against 
the  end  of  the.large  shed  occupied  for  dressing  stone.  This  platform  was 
occupied  by  the  distinguished  guests  from  abroad,  the  members  of  the  His- 
torical Society,  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  those  taking  part  in  the  celebra- 
tion. The  various  steamers  and  barges  in  attendance,  the  United  States 
revenue  cutter,  and  a  large  fleet  of  smaller  craft,  all  gaily  dressed  in  flags, 
lay  at  anchor  in  Adkins  Bay.  A  strong  tidal  current  swept  past  the  fort, 
aided  by  a  stiff  north-west  wind.  The  speaker's  stand  commanded  a  com- 
plete view  of  all  the  localities  alluded  to. 


40 

Half  a  mile  from  the  fort,  a  few  rods  north  of  the  pond  or  lake  before 
spoken  of,  on  a  ridge  rising  fifty  feet  above  the  ocean-level,  the  large  canvas 
Pavilion  was  spread,  stretcliing  east  and  west,  looking  like  one  vast  cathedral 
in  the  distance,  all  its  masts  crowded  with  flags.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
services  at  the  fort,  the  company  marched  in  procession  to  the  Pavilion, 
where,  with  refreshments  and  speeches,  the  remainder  of  the  day  was  oc- 
cupied. 


NOTE  B. 

BIOHABD     BEYMOUB. 

At  the  Pavilion,  after  a  few  introductory  words,  connecting  the  sentiment 
proposed  with  the  name  of  the  Chaplain  of  the  Colony,  Bishop  Burgess 
read  the  following  paper  : 

Mb.  President:  Who  was  Richard  Seymour?  And  why  should  he  be 
remembered  with  honor  ? 

The  house  of  Seymour,  the  second  among  the  English  nobility,  first  rose 
to  eminence  through  the  elevation  of  Queen  Jane,  the  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Seymour,  the  favorite  wife  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  and  the  mother  of  Edward 
the  Sixth.  Her  brother.  Sir  Edward  Seymour,  became  Earl  of  Hertford, 
and  in  the  minority  of  his  nephew.  King  Edward,  was  created  Duke  of 
Somerset,  and  governed  the  realm  as  Lord  Protector.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, and  his  second  wife,  Anne  Stanhope,  being  a  lady  of  high  descent,  it 
was  made  a  part  of  his  patent  of  nobility,  that  his  titles  should  first  be  in- 
herited in  the  line  of  her  children,  and  only  in  the  event  of  the  failure  of 
that  line,  should  pass  to  his  children  by  his  first  wife,  Catherine  Fillol,  and 
their  descendants.  Accordingly,  the  honors  forfeited  when  "the  Good 
Duke,"  as  the  Protector  was  called,  perished  on  the  scaffold,  being  afl;er- 
wards  restored,  passed  down  in  the  younger  line,  till  it  expnred  in  Algernon, 
Duke  of  Somerset,  in  1750,  when  they  reverted  to  the  elder  line,  in  which 
they  continue  till  this  day. 

In  the  mean  time,  this  elder  branch  had  been  seated,  all  along,  at  Berry 
Pomeroy,  in  Devonshire,  a  few  miles  from  Totness,  firom  Dartmouth,  and 
from  the  sea.  The  eldest  son  of  the  Protector,  Sir  Edward,  a  Christian 
name  which  continued  in  the  eldest  sons  for  eight  generations,  died  in  1593. 
This  son.  Sir  Edward,  the  grandson  of  the  Protector,  was  married  in  157(^. 
and  died  in  1618,  having  had,  according  to  one  account,  five  sons;  accord- 
ing to  another,  three,  besides  four  daughters.  The  youngest  son,  according 
to  both  accounts,  bore  the  name  of  Richard,  and  this  great-grandson  of  the 
Protector  Somerset,  was,  I  suppose,  the  Richard  Seymour  who  was  the 
Chaplain  of  the  Popham  Colony.    The  case  is  sustained  as  follows  : 

There  is  no  other  person  of  the  name  known  in  genealogical  history. 
Amongst  sixty-nine  male  descendants  of  the  Proted;or,  he  is  the  only 
Richard. 

His  age  corresponds  with  the  chronology  of  the  occasion.  His  father 
having  married  in  1676,  the  youngest  of  three  or  even  of  five  sons  might 
well  have  been  bom  within  ten  years  after,  so  as  to  have  been,  in  1607,  a 
young  clergyman,,  just  from  the  tlnlversity.  What  more  probable  than  that 
such  a  young  man  should  be  attracted  by  this  noble  adventure,  as  it  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  hands  of  his  Immediate  friends  ? 

His  residence  corresponds  with  the  locality  of  the  enterprise.  It  was 
within  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  Plymouth,  and  amongst  those  gentlemen 
of  Devonshire,  who  chiefly  formed  the  company  with  whom  this  undertak- 
ing originated.  Of  the  Plymouth  company  of  1620,  his  brother,  Sir  Edward 
Seymour,  was  one  of  the  incorporated  members 


50 


t 
t 


X     I 


This  brings  us  to  the  most  decisive  circumstances,  which  are  not  a  little 
interesting  in  the  light  which  they  cast  upon  the  history  of  the  colony.  At 
Dartington,  close  by  Berry  Poraeroy,  was  then,  and  still  is,  the  seat  of  the 
old  family  of  Champemoun,  which  "  came  in  with  William  the  Conqueror." 
Francis  Champemoun,  who  came  to  Maine  as  one  of  the  Councillors  under 
the  patent  of  Gorges,  and  settled  at  Kittery,  was  the  nephew  of  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  Gorges.  Therefore,  either  Gorges  himself,  or  his  sister,  or  his  sister- 
in-law,  must  have  married  a  Clmnpemoun.  Gorges  was  Governor  of  Ply- 
mouth, and  was  the  soul  of  these  expeditions  long  after. 

The  mother  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  also  a  Champemoun ;  and  as  she 
was  of  course  the  mother  also  of  his  half-brother,  the  gallant  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  it  follows  that  his  son,  Raleigh  Gilbert,  the  admiral  of  this  expedi- 
tion, was  the  grandson  of  a  Champemoun,  and  had  an  afBnity  with  Gorges 
through  that  family. 

Sir  John  Popham  had  several  children,  amongst  whom  was  a  daughter 
Elizabeth,  who  was  married  to  Sir  Richard  Champemoun  ;  and  thus  there 
was  aflQnity  between  the  families  of  Gorges,  Gilbert,  and  Popham  through 
the  household  at  Dartington. 

Sir  Edward  Seymour,  the  father  of  Richard  Seymour,  was  married,  as 
has  been  said,  in  1576,  and  his  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Arthur 
Champemoun  ;  and  thus  the  chain  of  relationship  is  complete  between  the 
families  of  Gorges,  Raleir.h,  Gilbert,  Popham  and  Seymour. 

Richard  Seymour,  therefore,  the  son  of  Edward  Seymour,  was  related  to 
Gorges,  the  projector  of  the  colony,  to  Popham,  its  patron,  to  Popham,  its 
President,  and  to  Gilbert,  its  admiral,  all  through  the  common  link  of  the 
family  of  his  mother.  When  they  sought  a  Chaplain,  they  found  one  in 
Richard  Seymour ;  and  no  other  R'/^-ird  Seymour  is  known  except  this 
•relative  of  theirs.  May  we  not  regu.'  -  •  •  Tentity  as,  I  will  not  say  demon- 
strated, but  fairly  established,  to  tlu  •:.      ;    of  a  reasonable  conviction? 

The  connection  between  the  families  oi  Seymour  and  Popham  ceased  not 
with  that  generation.  Sir  John  Popham,  though  Wellington,  in  Somerset- 
shire, was  his  birth-place  and  burial-place,  purchased  from  the  family  of 
Darell,  to  which  the  grandmother  of  the  Protector  belonged,  the  seat  of 
Littlecote,  in  Wiltshire,  on  the  borders  of  Berkshire,  and  here  resided  his 
descendants.  Sir  Edward  Seymour,  grand-nephew  of.  Richard  Seymour, 
married  Letitia  Popham,  daughter  of  Francis  Popham,  Esq.,  of  Littlecote, 
and  had  a  son  named  Popham  Seymour ;  and  the  next  Sir  Edward,  his 
eldest  son,  married  another  Letitia,  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Popham,  also 
of  Littlecote.  This  hereditary  friendship  accords  with  the  association  on 
this  spot. 

But  Richard  Seymour  has  his  honor,  this  day,  not  from  his  memorable 
descent,  but  from  the  place  assigned  him  by  the  Providence  which  presided 
over  the  destinies  of  this  now  Christian  land.  He  was  not  the  first  English 
clergyman  who  ever  preached  the  Gospel  or  celebrated  the  Holy  Commun- 
ion in  North-America ;  that  honor  fell  to  Wolfall,  ift  1578,  on  the  shores  of 
Newfoundland  or  Labrador.  He  was  not  the  first  English  clergyman  in  the 
United  States  ;  for  Hunt  had  already  begun  his  pastoral  oflSce  on  the  banks 
of  the  James.  He  was  not  even  the  first  Christian  teacher  within  the  limits 
of  Maine ;  for  L'Escarbot,  a  Huguenot,  had  instructed  his  French  associates 
in  1604,  on  an  island  in  the  St.  Croix. 

But  Seymour  was  the  first  preacher  of  the  Gospel  in  the  English  tongue, 
within  the  borders  of  New-England,  and  of  the  free,  loyal  and  unrevoked 
portion  of  these  United  States.  Had  he  inherited  all  the  honors  of  his 
almost  royal  great-grandsirc,  they  would  have  given  him  a  far  less  noble 
place  than  this,  in  the  hiistory  of  mankind. 


/ 


51 


NOTE  G. 

THS  BETTiiEMBNT  OF  MAINIS  BY  GOVBBNOB  GEOROS 
FOFHAM,  AUOUST,  1607. 

Befoke  the  Mayflower's  lonely  sdl 

Our  northern  billows  spanned, 
And  left  on  Fl^  nouth's  ice-bound  rock 

A  sad-eyed  pilgrim  band ;     , 

Ere  scarce  Virginia's  forest  proud 

The  earliest  woodman  hewed, 
Or  gray  Powhatan's  wondering  eyes 

The  pale-browed  strangers  viewed ; 

The  noble  Popham's  fearless  prow 

Essayed  adventurous  deed ; 
He  cast  upon  New-England's  coast 

The  first  colonial  seed  ; 

And  bade  the  holy  dews  of  prayer 

Baptize  a  heathen  sod ; 
And  'mid  the  groves  a  church  arose 

Unto  the  Christian's  God. 

And  here,,  on  green  Sabino's  marge, 
*  He  closed  bis  mortal  trust, 

And  gave  this  savage-peopled  world 
Its  first  rich  Saxon  dust. 

So,,  where  beneath  the  drifted  snows 

He  toolc  his  latest  sleep, 
A  futhful  sentinel  of  stone  * 

Due  watch  and  ward  shall  keep ; 

A  lofty  fort,  to  men  unborn. 

In  thunder  speak  his  name, 
And  Maine,  amid  her  thousand  hills, 
New-England's  founder  claim.  L.  H.  Sigourmet. 

Hartfobo,  Ct.,  Sept.  3,  1862. 


LE  BIEUB  DE  OHAMFLAIN. 

Onward  o'er  waters  which  no  keel  had  trod. 

No  plummet  sounded  in  *'ieir  depths  below, 
No  heaving  anchor  grappled  to  the  sod 

Where  flowers  of  ocean  in  seclusion  glow ; 
From  isle  to  isle,  from  coast  to  coast  he  prest 

With  patient  ztal  and  chivalry  sublime, 
Folding  o'er  Terra  Incognita's  breast 

The  lilied  v&jsalage  of  Gallia's  clime. 
^        Though  Henry  of  Navarre's  profound  mistake 

Montcalm  must  expiate  and  France  regret ; 
Tet  yonder  tranquil  and  heaven-mirrored  lake, 

Like  diamond  in  a  marge  of  emerald  set, 
Bears  on  its  freshening  wave,  from  shore  to  shore. 
The  baptism  of  his  name  till  time  shall  be  no  more. 
Harttord,  Ct.,  Oct.  1, 1862.  L.  Hcstlet  Sioournit. 


\ 


62 


BIB  FXBDINANDO  OOBOB8. 

KoT  'mid  Amb!tion*g  aterner  sons,  inspired  witli  restless  rage, 
Whose  wreatlis  of  laurel  stain  with  blood  the  snow  of  History's  page, 
Nor  'mid  those  sordid  hordes  who  wrap  their  souls  in  cloth  of  gold, 
And  smother  every  generous  aim  in  that  Laocoon  fold ; 
But  with  the  men  whom  age  on  age  complacently  shall  view 
Unostentatious  in  their  course,  and  like  the  pole-star  true. 
Who  nobly  plan,  and  boldly  aid  the  welfare  of  their  rr.ce — 
Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges'  name  shall  find  an  honored  place. 

Oir  the  new  Western  Continent,  his  earnest  eye  was  bent, 
,     Nor  rising  cloud,  nor  rolling  storm  obscured  his  large  intent ; 
Though  Raleigh,  that  chivalrous  friend,  upon  the  8<»ffold  bled, 
0        And  many  an  unexpec'«d  foe  upreared  the  hydra  head ; 

Though  adverse  fortune  ruled,  and  loss  his  flowing  coffers  dndned, 

Ari  monarchs  vacillated  sare,  and  parliaments  compluned ; 

Yet  with  a  persevering  zeal  that  no  defeat  impaired. 

When  others  failed,  h   onward  pressed — where  others  shrank,  he  dared. 

Then  colonizing  ships  went  down  beneath  the  engulfing  main. 

Or  on  their  cargoes  fiercely  fed  the  pirate  power  of  Spain, 

And  homeward  from  thdr  rude  abodes  the  baffled  planters  steer. 

Discouraged  at  the  hardships  dire  that  vex  the  pioneer ; 

The  wily  Aborigines*  his  proffered  kindness  grieved. 

And  the  great  Bashaba  himself  all  Christian  trust  deceived : 

Still  as  the  beacon  rises  brave  o'er  demlation's  flood 

Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  firm  in  faith's  endurance  stood. 

He  ne'er  beheld  New-England's  face  that  woke  such  life-long  toil. 
Nor  traversed  with  exploring  foot  bis  own  manorial  soil, 
Nor  gazed  upon  those  crested  hills  where  misty  shadows  glide. 
Nor  heard  her  thundering  rivers  rush  to  swell  old  ocean's  tide, 
Nor  like  the  seer  on  Pisgah's  cliff  one  distant  glance  enjoyed 
Of  those  delightful  vales  thkt  oft  his  nightly  dreams  enjployed ; 
Yet  still  with  deep  indwelling  thought  and  fancy's  graphic  art 
He  bore  her  strongly-featured  scenes  depictured  on  his  heart. 

She  gave  him  no  memorial  stone  'mio  all  her  mountuns  hoar, 
Nor  bade  one  islet  speak  his  name  along  her  sounding  shore. 
Nor  charged  a  single  mirrored  lake  that  o'er  her  surface  spread 
To  keep  his  image  on  its  wave  till  gratitude  was  dead : 
The  woodman  in  the  forest  hews,  the  kingly  mast  to  rear, 
And  forth  the  fearless  vessel  goes  to  earth's  remotest  sphere ; 
But  who  of  all  the  mariners  upon  the  watery  phun 
Gives  praise  to  that  unswerving  knight,  who  loved  the  hills  of  Maine  ? 
Habvfobd,  Ct.,  Nov.  6,  1862.  L.  H.  S. 

*  Some  native  Indians  being  brought  to  England,  werp  Icindlf  received  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Ck>rge> 
Into  hif  family,  from  wliom  he  acquired  much  information  of  their  country,  ita  scenery  and  pro- 
ductions. One  of  them,  a  native  jf  Martha's  Tineyard,  named  Kpinow,  artfUily  invented  a  story 
of  a  mine  of  gold  in  that  region. 

A  vessel  having  been  fitted  out  for  the  coast  of  New-England  by  Bit  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  the 
Earl  of  Sonthamrton,  Epinov  went  In  It,  and  when  It  approached  bis  natl  '•  island  leaped  into  the 
Mja  and  swam  ashore.  Soon  a  shower  of  arrows  (Tom  about  twenty  canoes  was  ducharged  on 
deck,  much  disconcerting  the  crew.  This  expedition,  like  several  other  unsuccessful  onaa,  N- 
tumed  without  having  perfoni)^  any  service  adequate  to  the  equipment. 


I 


08 


NOTE  D. 

XBTIMATED  TSBBITOBY  AI^D  FOFULATIOX  OF  THB  OLOBS. 

Square  miles.  Population. 

Europe, 8,600,000 2*75,000,000 

A«i8, ; 16,800,000 720,000,000 

Africa, 11,'700,000 100,000,000 

America, 16,000,000 V0,000,000 

Oceanica, 4,000,000 86,000,000 


62,000,000 


1,200,000,000 


id. 


■■'■     BNGIiIBH  BPBAEINQ  OB  BNaLISH  GOYEBNED. 

Square  miles.  Inhabitant!. 

United  States  of  America, 8,260,000 81,446,080 

United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, . .      122,666 29,S34,'788 

Britisli  Colonies  and  Dependencies, 8,124,628 189,610,663 


Total, 11,497,084 260,390,633 


THK  rOLLOWINO  TABLE  OITES  IN  DETAIL  THE 
BBITI8H  TBBBITOBT  AND  POPULATION  IN  1861. 


I.  S. 

oOorgei 

and  pro- 

a  story 

and  the 
i  into  th« 
arged  on 
onM,  re> 


COCHTRIIS,   XTC. 


Europe. 

Engiand, 

Wales, 

Scotland, 

Ireland, 

Channel  Islands : 

Blan, 

Jersey, 

Guernsey,  with  adjacent 
Islands, 

Aldemey, 

Sark, 

Army,  Navy,  and  Sailors, 

United  Kingdom, .... 

GibralUr, 

Maltese  Islands, 

Ionian  Islands, 

Heligoland, 

Total  In  Europe, 

Asia. 

Bengal  Presidency, 

Madras        "  

Bombay       "  

North-West  Provinces,.  . 

Punjab, 

As-Sutlej  States, 

Oude, 

Nagpore  orBerar, 

I'egu 

Tenasserlm  Provinces, . . . 
East'n  Straits  Settlem'U : 

Penang  and  Wellesley,. 

Malacca  and  Naning, . . 


AMA. 
80.   M. 


60,022 

7,898 

81,824 

88,f>i8 


42 
6 


122,666 

S 

116 

1,046 

6 


128,728 


821,069 

182,090 

181,644 

105,760 

78,686 

8,090 

25,000 

76,432 

82,200 

29,168 

261 
1,049 


POPDLATIOir. 


18,949,980 
1,111,796 
8,061,251 
6,764,542 


66,078 

29,840 

4,988 

688 

808,491 


29,884,788 

17,760 

186,271 

220,726 

8,800 


89,721,856 


40,862,807 

22,487,207 

11,700,042 

83,656,198 

10,486,710 

2,282,111 

6,000,000 

4,650,000 

570,180 

116,481 

90,688 
19,108 


Singapore, 

Native  States  subordinate 

to  Bengal, 

to  Madras, 

to  Bombay, 


Ceylon, 

Labuan, .... 
Hong-Kong, . 
Aden, 


COnNTRUS. 


British  IndU,. 


Total  in  Asia,. 

Afirioa. 

Gambia, 

Sierra  Leone, 

Gold  Coast, 

Cape  Colony, 

OaflVaria, 

Natal,.....: 

St.  Helena, 

Mauritios, 

Seychelles, 


Total  in  Africa,. 


Oceanlca. 

New  South-Wales,.. 

Victoria, 

South-Australia,. . . . 
Western  Australia, . 

Queensland, 

North- Australia,. . . . 


8Q.  u. 


876 

615,585 
61,809 
60,575 


1,465,881 

24,700 
60 
20 
10 


1,400,120 


2,000 

8,000 

6,000 

104,921 

22,000 

18,000 

47 

70S 

200 


166,876 


856.480 
00,040 
.,  898,830 
088,080 
450,780 
608,770 


Australia, 2,980,780      1,065,122 


POPCLATION. 


92,749 

88,702,206 
5,213,671 
4,470,870 


180,877,148 

1,769,523 

1,168 

75,508 

80,000 


182,298,842 


6,698 
88,318 
151,846 
267,096 
120,000 
121,068 

6,490 
888,868 

8,276 


965,650 


360,663 

644,677 

117,067 

14,828 

80,116 

6,087 


\  I 


54 


BBITI8H  TEBBITOBY  AND  POPULATION  IN  I861.-Oontinuod. 


cocxram. 


Tabmania, 

New-Zealand, 

Norfolk  laland, 

Auckland  Inland, 

yeeje«  Islands, 

Total  inOceanica,, 

America. 

Vancouver, 

Brltiah  Columbia, 

Hudson  Bay  Oo.'s  Ter. . 

Labrador, 

Canada  West, 

Canada  East, 

New-Brunswick, 

Nova  Scotia,  etc., 

Prince  Edward, 

Newfoundland, 

Bermuda  Islands, 

Balize,  (Honduras,). . . . 

North- America,. . . . 

Bahama  Islands, 

Turk's  Isl.  and  the  Caicos, 

Jamaica, 

Cayman  Islands, 

Trinidad, 

Barbadoes, 

Grenada, 


ABBA. 
80.  U. 


22,629 

95,&00 

18 

600 

8,034 


8,107,401 


12,756 

287,250 

2,250,000 

170,000 

147,882 

209,990 

27,70^ 

18,746 

2,184 

85,913 

19 

18,600 


POPULATIOM, 


89,977 

129,177 

600 

100 

188,500 


C0V1ITBIB8. 


8,25C,D44 

6,094 
480 

6,250 
2i!0 

2,020 
160 
156 


1,418,776, 


26,000 

64,000 

71,000 

1,650 

1,896,091 

1,111,566 

262,04V 

880,691), 

80,648 

122,9.'W 

11,612 

18,600 


St.  Vincent, 

iTobago, 

St.  Lucia, 

Nevis 

'st  Christopher,' ! 

Antigua, 

Montserrat, 

Virgin  Islands, . , 

Dominica 

Barbuda, 

AngulUa, 


8,486,871 


West-Indies,. 

Ouayana ; 

Essequibo, 

Bcrbice, 

Demerara, 

Falkland  Islands,. 


South- America,. 


Total  in  America,. . 


81,402  jEuropoan, 

4,423  lAsIatlc 

441,264  lAfrican, 

1,700  ^Oceanic, 

78,845  American, 

161,201 
86,517  I       Grand  Total,. 


ARBA. 
8Q.  M. 


182 

144 

296 

21 

68 
108 
47 
02 
274 
72 
84 


16,668 


44,000 

26,000 

27,000 

6,297 


102,297 


3,868,904 

123,720 
1,490,120 

166,876 
3,107,401 
8,868,004 


8,247,084 


POPULATION. 


80,128 

16,868 

26,471 

9,601 

28,17T 

87,767 

7,668 

6,680 

25,'iHO 

l,tOT 

8,062 


942,245 


22,925 

29,008 

75,767 

689 


123,284 


4,666,850 

99,721 ,865 

182,294,342 

96r,,660 

1,418,776 

4,650.850 


218,946, 


The  oldest  of  the  present  Colonies  of  Great  Britain  is  Newfoundland, 
obtained  by  settlement  in  1608;  Bermuda  was  obtained  in  1609;  St. 
Christopher,  in  1623 :  Barbadoes,  in  1625 ;  Nevis,  in  1628 ;  Bahamas,  in 
1629 ;  Gambia,  in  1681 ;  and  Antigua,  in  1632.  There  are  fifty  distinct 
colonial  governments  over  the  British  possessions. 


NOTE   E. 

From  the  N.  Y.  Chrlstliri  Times  of  Nov.  20,  1802. 
THE   FOPHAM    CELEBBAT-ON. 
ACTION  OF  THE    NEW-YORK   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Among  the  pleasing  incidents  not  remotely  connected  with  the  meeting 
of  the  General  Convention,  was  the  gathering  of  a  number  of  the  members 
of  that  body,  both  clerical  and  lay,  of  acknowledged  interest  in  historical 
pursuits,  at  the  October  meeting  of  the  New-York .  Historical  Society,  to 
notice  appropriately  the  late  celebration  of  the  Popham  settlement  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kennebec.  Invitations  were  extended  by  the  courtly  and 
accomplished  President  of  the  New- York  Historical  Society,  the  Hon.  Lu- 
ther Bradish,  in  behalf  of  the  Society,  to  a  number  of  the  Bishops,  to  the 
delegation  from  the  Diocese  of  Maine,  and  to  several  prominent  members  of 
the  Maine  and  Massachusetts  Historical  Societies  at  that  time  in  New- York, 
to  be  present  on  this  interesting  occasion.  The  invitation  was  very  generally 
responded  to;  and,  among  others,  the  Rev.  James  Craik,  D.D.,  of  Ken- 
tucky, President  of  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies ;  the  Hon.  R. 
C.  Winthrop,  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society;  Pro£ 


55 


/■ 


Shattuck,  of  Boston ;  the  Rev,  Dr.  Edson,  of  Lowell ;  the  lion.  John  A. 
I*oor,  and  the  Rev.  William  Stevens  Perry,  of  Portland,  members  of  the 
Maine  Historical  Society,  were  received  by  a  large  and  brilliant  assembly, 
consisting  of  prominent  historical  and  literary  characters  of  New- York  and 
vicinity,  in  the  elegant  hall  of  the  Society,  on  Second  Avenue. 

After  the  paper  of  the  evening  was  read,  the  Hon.  Luther  Bradish,  Pres- 
ident of  the  Society,  said,  that  in  reporting  upon  the  miscellaneous  business 
of  the  Society,  it  was  his  pleasing  duty  to  refer  to  an  interesting  event  that 
liad  taken  place  during  the  vacation — the  celebration  in  Maine  of  the  found- 
ing of  the  English  race  in  the  New  World.  In  many  particulars,  this  cele- 
bration was  one  of  the  most  memorable  and  successful  historical  commem- 
orations that  had  yet  taken  place.  On  the  Peninsula  of  Sabino,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  ancient  Sagadahoc,  the  modern  Kennebec  river,  in  the  State 
of  Maine,  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
llrst  English  colony  on  the  shores  of  New-England  was  celebrated  on  the 
29th  of  August,  1862,  at  which,  after  the  use  of  the  old  words  of  prayer  and 
praise  of  the  English  Prayer-Book  of  that  time,  an  eloquent  and  appropriate 
oration,  with  speeches,  was  delivered,  and  other  proceedings  took  place,  at 
the  erection  of  a  monumental  stone  in  the  walls  of  Fort  Popliam.  Tha 
New- York  Historical  Society,  through  its  President,  was  honored  with  an 
invitation  to  participate  in  that  celclration.  Absence  from  home  prevented 
liis  receiving  the  invitation  in  time  to  be  present,  had  his  health  permitted, 
lie  had  replied  in  what  he  trusted  were  appropriate  terras.  He  was  glad  to 
know  that  other  members  of  this  Society  had  responded  for  our  city  and 
State.  He  regretted  that  we  had  not  been  able  to  do  full  justice  to  our 
sense  of  obligation  to  our  sister  Society  in  Maine.  He  trusted  the  Society 
would  in  some  form  take  notice  of  it  in  an  appropriate  manner. 

The  Hon.  George  Folsom,  a  son  of  Maine,  and  well  known  as  the  learned 
historian  of  one  of  Maine's  cradle  homes  of  civilization  and  Episcopacy, 
rose,  and  said  he  fully  sympathized  in  all  that  had  fallen  from  the  Presi- 
dent ;  he  regretted  that  absence  in  Canada,  with  his  family,  prevented  his 
acceptance,  in  person,  of  the  honor  done  him  by  an  invitation.  He  asked 
leave  to  introduce  the  following  resolution :  • 

^^ Resolved,  That  the  New- York  Historical  Society  has  observed  with 
pleasure  the  efforts  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Maine  to  perpetuate  the 
earliest  history  of  their  State,  by  associating  important  historic  events  with 
tho  great  works  of  national  defence  of  the  United  States  Government ;  that 
they  acknowledge  with  satisfaction  the  courtesy  extended  by  the  Historical 
Society  and  citizens  of  Maine,  inviting  the  Society  and  its  oflBcers  to  parti- 
cipate in  the  commemorative  celebration  of  the  founding  of  the  first  colony 
on  the  shores  of  New-England,  on  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-fifth  anniver- 
sary of  that  event,  on  the  29th  of  August,  1862,  at  which  time  a  memorial 
stone  was  placed  in  the  walls  of  Fort  Popham  commemorating  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  first  Protestant  civil  government  on  the  shores  of  New- 
England  ;  that  this  Society  cordially  approves  the  act  of  its  President,  in 
his  reply  to  the  invitation  to  participate  in  that  celebration,  and  the  good- 
will therein  expressed ;  that  all  such  efforts  to  preserve  and  illustrate  the 
history  of  our  race  in  the  new  world  arc  worthy  of  general  notice." 

The  Hon.  J.'  Romcyn  Brodhead  so  Id  he  seconded  the  resolution  with  great 
pleasure.  H«  was  pleased  further  to  learn  that  several  members  of  the 
Maine  Historical  Society  had  honored  our  meeting  by  their  presence  this 
evening,  as  had  the  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts. 
Among  others  from  Maine,  the  orator  of  the  Popham  Celebration,  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Poor,  was  present,  and  he  trusted  this  resolution  would  be  adopted 
and  that  Mr.  Poor  would  be  called  on  to  favor  us  with  some  reply  thereto. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted.    In  reply  to  a  call  from  the 


5e 

President,  Mr.  Poor  said  his  associates  of  the  Maino  Historical  Societj  and 
other  friends  from  Maine  present,  with  himself,  felt  pcrsonaUy  complimente<l 
by  the  action  here  taktm,  in  reference  to  the  Popham  Celebration.  He  rose 
with  a  feeling  of  embarrassment  to  return  thanks  for  this  cordial  and  un- 
locked for  compliment.  He  doubted  not  that  the  Historical  Society  of 
Maine  would,  in  its  own  befltUng  manner,  return  appropriate  acknowledg- 
ments for  this  generous  courtesy  oa  the  part  of  the  New-York  Historical 
Society. 

The  Pt^ham  Celebration,  so  courteously  alluded  to,  had  already  bomo 
fruits,  in  awakened  attention  to  the  study  of  the  oarly  history  of  the  coun- 
try, and  we  are  largely  indebted  to  eminent  historical  minds  of  New- York 
for  much  of  the  interest  already  attached  to  it.  The  fact  so  happily  alluded 
to  by  your  own  historian,  Mr.  Brodhead,  the  political  connection  between 
New- York  and  Maine  under  the  charter  of  Charles  II.,  in  his  most  interest- 
ing and  appropriate  reply  to  the  invitation  to  speak  for  the  great  metropoU» 
of  the  New  Worlds  cannot  fail  to  excitie  a  feeling  of  mutual  sympathy,  at 
this  day,  with  the  more  recent  but  increasing  commercial  intimacy  of  the 
two  States.  It  is  certainly  refreshing  to  revive  and  recall,  for  this  brief 
hour,  the  kindly  intercourse  of  other  days.  It  is  a  fact,  almost  forgotten, 
even  by  the  active  lAen  of  this  time,  that  much  the  largest  portion  of  Maine 
was  at  one  time  under  the  satne  government  as  that  of  New- York,  and  that 
Gyles  Goddard,  the  renowned  representative  from  Pemaquid,  sat  in  the 
Legislature  of  New-York  in  1684,  chosen  by  the  free-holders  oi  the  county 
of  Cornwall,,  in  ancient  Sagadahoc.  This  letter  of  Mr.  Brodhead,  already 
published  in  the  Maine  papers,  will  be  preserved  in  our  memorial  volume 
as  one  of  the  choicest  of  the  many  interesting  contributions  to  its  pages. 
The  courteous  and  appropriate  letter  of  your  {Resident  is  already  published 
in  the  papers  of  Maine. 

One  from  the  Hon.  Mr.  Bancroft,  the  most  eminent  of  living  American 
historians,  and  another  from  one  of  Maine's  honored  sons,  Mr.  Folsom,  are 
promised  for  this  volume.  Mr.  Folsom's  invifluable  labors  in  bringing  to 
light  and  preserving  the  earliest  histwy  of  his  native  State,  have  been  pub- 
licly acknowledged  by  formal  resolutions  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 

New- York,  therefore,  will  have  a  foremc»st  position,  if  not,  in  fact,  tho 
post  of  honor,  in  the  records  of  that  commemorative  festival. 

That  celebration  was  well  calculated  to  attract  attention,  for  in  its  pur- 
pose it  appeals  at  once  to  the  sympathy  of  all  who  speak  the  English  lan- 
guage, or  share  in  any  proper  measure  a  feeling  of  pride  at  the  achievements 
of  our  race.  It  had  for  its  object  the  due  observance  of  the  great  fact,  the 
planting  of  our  race  in  North-America,  with  the  language,  literature,  laws, 
and  religion  of  England,  an  event,  if  rightly  comprehended  in  its  relations 
and  consequences,  of  as  much  importance  as  any  one  that  has  taken  place 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Eight  years  before  the  Leyden  Church  had  been  gathered  in  Holland, 
under  the  charge  of  the  pious  Robinson,  twenty  years  before  they  set  foot 
on  Plymouth  sands,  the  purpose  <^  ^'  planting  colonies  in  the  north-west  of 
North- America  "  had  been  set  forth  in  a  paper  on  file  in  the  British  State 
Paper  Office.  More  than  thirteen  years  prior  to  the  voyage  erf  the  May 
Flower,  the  title  of  Old  England  to  New  England  had  been  secured  by  a 
formal  act  of  possession  and  occupation  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sagadahoc  by 
Governor  Popham's  colony.*    No  Frenchman  ever  set  foot  on  the  Atlantic 

*  The  Seven  Articles  of  the  Leyden  Flo  jk,  signed  by  Robinson  and  Brewster,  sent 
to  Kin^  James  before  tbeir  departure  frorn  liolland,  signifying  their  full  assent  to  tlie 
authority  of  the  English  Church,  form  a  striking  contrast  to  their  subsequent  preten* 
sions,  under  the  guidance  of  such  men  as  Bradford  and  Winslow.  See  Poor  s  Yio- 
dication  of  Gorges,  p.  Iu8,  for  this  remaricaUe  docum«>t  in  full. 


\ 


87 


ghore,  claiming  title  west  of  tlio  Kennp>>(^,  after  the  planting  of  Popham's 
colony  in  1607. 

The  Colonial  Empire  of  Great  Britain,  the  wonder  of  this  age,  had  its  root 
in  the  charter  of  April  tenth,  1606,  and  its  development  in  the  New-England 
charter  of  1620,  both  granted  on  the  petitions  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  The 
great  idea  of  a  strong  central  government,  having  extended  dominions  in 
distant,  lands,  divided  into  separate  provinces,  communities,  and  states, 
each  eT\)oying  equal  and  just  laws,  suited  to  the  local  wants  of  each,  fully 
developed  in  action  under  the  rule  of  Cromwell,  originated  in  an  earlier  day, 
and  in  the  mind  of  him  who  secured  those  great  charters,  and  maintained 
them  till  the  soil  of  the  New  World  was  planted  with  our  race,  where  it  has 
gradually  advanced  toward  universal  dominion. 

The  failure  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  of  Sir 
Richard  Grenville  to  comprehend  the  geographical  and  commercial  laws 
that  control  the  destiny  of  races  and  of  empires,  imposed  on  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  or  rather  left  to  him,  the  task  of  occupying  the  continent  of  North- 
America,  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-eighth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  in 
which  limits,  in  spite  of  individual  jealousy  and  parliamentary  injustice,  he 
achieved  the  great  work  of  English  colonization  in  America.  In  their  zeal 
against  monopolies,  in  1621  and  1622,  the  Commons  of  England  declared 
^^fiihing  i»  of  more  value  than  plantationa  in  Ameriea,^^  and  would  have 
abandoned  the  continent  to  the  French  but  for  the  pertinacity,  foresight, 
and  enlightened  views  of  Gorges,  and  his  favor  with  the  King,  from  the  pos- 
session of  these  great  qualities. 

But  the  chief  significance  of  the  Popham  Celebration,  undoubtedly,  is  the 
introduction  of  a  new  principle  in  the  naming  of  our  forts,  making  them 
serve  the  double  purpose  of  national  defence  and  of  preserving  the  memory 
of  the  great  events  in  our  history. 

We  have  seen  the  national  honor  tarnished,  and  the  moral  sense  of  the 
nation  shocked,  by  the  bestowal  of  unworthy  names— names  of  mere  parti- 
san leaders — upon  national  vessels,  forts,  and  other  public  works.  This 
form  of  coarse  flattery  panders  to  the  lower  tastes  of  men  and  destroys  the 
independence  of  official  men,  who  are  made  the  recipients  of  it. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  a  feeling  of  relief  that  Gen.  Totten  was  pleased  to 
accept  the  proposal  of  affixing  to  the  great  work  in  Portland  harbor  the 
name  of  Fort  Gorges,  in  honor  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  the  father  of  Eng- 
lish colonization  in  America,  and  naming  the  new  work  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Sagadahoc  or  Kennebec  Fort  Popham,  in  a  similar  spirit,  and  we  hope  to 
see  this  rule  made  universal.  Especially  do  we  look  forward  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  now  fort,  to  guard  the  entrance  to  Portland  harbor,  to  be 
named  Fort  Gosnold,  and  placed  on  the  shore  of  Cape  Elizabeth,  the  first 
point  of  the  northern  main  of  New-England,  touched  by  that  great  English 
navigator,  who  has  left  on  record  the  details  of  his  discovery  of  the  New- 
England  coast  in  1602. 

The  fitness  of  the  policy  proposed  will  be  readily  appreciated  by  all  men 
endowed  with  any  share  of  that  quality  we  call  the  historic  sense ;  for  all 
know  that  the  reputation  of  no  public  man  is  secure  within  the  first  hun- 
dred years  after  his  death.  Personal  ambition,  partisan  motives,  and  nar- 
row views  characterize  the  popular  movements  of  every  age — our  own  as  of 
all  past  ones — and  the  value  of  no  man's  life  can  be  justly  measured  in  his 
own  time.  We  build  monuments,  we  name  towns,  cities,  and  counties,  for 
men  that  a  future  age  will  hold  in  disfavor.  We  alihost  execrate  the  memo- 
ry of  men  to-day,  that  -a  later  time  shall  honor.  We  rear  in  affected  grand- 
eur an  obelisk  in  devotion  to  the  demon  of  war,  that  the  calmer  reason  of 
the  coming  centuries  will  demolish  or  condemn.  We  do  homage  to  popular 
partisan  leaders  to-day,  whose  doctrines  have  undermined  the  foundations 
of  our  Government  and  brought  upon  us  civil  war. 


08 


Thanks  to  the  good  sense  of  the  people  of  the  Empire  State,  they  have 
preserved  the  name  of  their  gre&t  navigator,  Hudson,  fVom  any  possibility 
of  forgetfUlness  or  decay,  by  a^xing  it  to  the  great  river  of  the  mountains 
that  roust  forever  bear  to  this  great  metropolis  the  treasures  of  an  expand- 
ing commerce  with  the  interior. 

Looking  back  to  the  flrst  dawningg  of  American  histonr,  we  are  beginning 
to  discover  the  superior  lustre  of  the  great  lights  that  guided  hitherward  the 
adventurous  and  heroic  spirits  of  that  great  age.  Under  their  benignant 
glow  we  revisit  the  spots  made  sacred  bv  self-denying  labors.  We  hope  to 
Ktrcngthen  our  love  of  what  is  noble  and  heroic  by  an  annual  pilgrimage  to 
that  spot  where,  in  prayer  and  faith,  the  foundations  of  empire  in  the  New 
AVorlu  were  laid. 

Associating  the  history  of  Maine  with  New- York,  so  appropriately  done 
by  Mr.  Brodhcad,  ma^  serve  to  increase  vour  interest  in  our  State.  Maine 
— ^  so  rich  in  historic  mterest,  so  full  of  legendary  romance,  so  marked  by 
the  fascinations  of  its  scenery  ;*  the  territory  claimed  by  the  great  European 
powers,  Spain,  Holland,  France,  and  England ;  the  home  of  the  earliest 
French  settlers  and  of  the  first  English  colonists ;  the  Noruinbega  of  Mil- 
ton's Paradise  Lost,  the  Mavosheen  of  Purchase's  strange  narration  ;  "  dis- 
covered by  the  English  in  1602,  '3,  '6,  '6,  '7,  '8,  and  '9  f'  the  New-England 
of  John  Smith  in  1614,  and  of  later  times — obevs  the  law  of  historic  as  of 
commercial  gravitation  and  gladly  finds  sympathy,  "  without  reservation," 
in  the  great  metropolis  of  the  Western  World. 

Maine,  too,  builds  the  ships  that  fill  the  docks  of  the  East  River  and  the 
Hudson.  She  lifts  from  her  quarries  the  granite  columns  that  form  the 
ornaments  and  support  of  your  public  edifices,  and  the  rich  colonnades  and 
solid  walls  of  the  Treasury  Extension  at  Washington.  She  needs,  most  of 
all,  the  pen  of  the  historian  and  the  pencil  of  the  painter,  to  be  made  as 
familiar  as  household  words  in  the  private  residences  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Madison  Square,  by  means  of  landscapes  that  shall  equal  in  beauty  the 
richest  scenery  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps ;  true  to  nature  from  the  sea- 
shores, the  yalleys,  and  the  mountains  of  Maine.  With  her  summer  retreats 
thus  laid  open,  she  shall  annually  attract  pleasure  tourists  of  other  lands 
than  our  own. 

Rejoicing  in  the  success  of  your  Society,  and  grateful  for  your  generous 
courtesy,  I  may  be  allowed  to  close,  as  I  began,  by  expressing  for  our 
Society  and  its'members,  here  present,. the  assurance  of  our  hearty  thanks. 

*  "  We,  Americans,  neglecting  both  the  surpassing  magnificence — nny,  often  sub- 
limity— and  the  rare  loveliness  of  v....ou3  districts  of  our  own  Continent,  wander 
forth  across  the  seas,  to  seek,  at  great  expense,  and  amid  physical  and  moral  dangers, 
scenery  in  foreign  lands,  which  falls  short  of  the  attractions  of  much  we  possess  at 
home.  Thus,  how  few  are  alive  to  the  glorious  and  varied  beauty  of  that  rone  of 
islands,  which,  commencing  with  the  perfection  of  Casco  Bay,  terminates,  with  the 
precipitous,  seal-frequented  sliores  of  Grand-Menan,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of 
Fundy.  Of  all  the  Archipelagoes  sung  by  the  poet,  described  by  the  historian,  and 
depicted  by  the  painter,  there  is  none  which  can  exceed,  in  its  union  of  charms, 
those  two  hundred  miles  of  intermingling  land  anu  ocean,  where,  lost  in  each  other's 
embrace,  the  sea  seems  in  love  with  the  land,  and  the  shore  with  the  foam-frosted 
waves  I" — General  J.  Watts  de  Peyst&'s  Dutch  in  Maine,  p.  44. 


